The Final Endurance Test
by GreyClouds221
Summary: Lara and Sam have returned to the USA from their psychologically scarring adventure on the island with Roth and the crew. The trip has left Lara in a vulnerable frenzy, but she and Sam have been growing... closer. Lara is delighted- but will this be a help or a hindrance to the born survivor? Lara/Sam Cover image belongs to: /art/Lara-and-Sam-359817497
1. Chapter 1

Lara woke up crying and sweating for the fourth time this week. Each time it was getting worse. It was pretty much the same dream every time- but still it was getting worse.

The dream was about the island- or should I say The Island because that's how it was now known to Lara and the rest of the shipwrecked crew- and it always focused on or around death. Lara would see herself in the dreams: running from wolves that snapped at and tore up her heals; kindling fires only for the floor to give way and plummet into a waterfall; hiding behind barrels as bullet after bullet cut through the air and skimmed each of her limbs. But the worst part was always Roth. This was the only dream about The Island that Lara had which was a pure memory. All of the others were half-creations of the mind, distorted memories that coined themselves into a linear mess of horror.

There were good dreams about The Island too, believe it or not. Most of those revolved around Sam: Lara saving Sam from an unseen monster or Lara sitting by a campfire as Sam slept, looking out for wolves or any of The Island's 'soldiers'.

Unfortunately, Lara's share of these dreams were limited this week and her fourth uncomfortable awakening had been caused by a 'Rothmare' yet again. She looked across at her alarm clock and squinted at the two red blinking dots that separated the 5 from the 13. As her eyes focused and she realised the time, Lara dropped back onto the pillow and sighed, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. All she could think of was Roth's arms around her protectively as he spun the two of them around. She could still hear the piercing crack and feel the electric buzz that caused her to shudder violently as the axed sliced cleanly into Roth's back. Lara screwed up her eyes as she thought of it and rolled over onto the cold, unused side of the bed to get back to sleep. It took her over an hour.

When Lara awoke again at 10:06, it was with a start. Her phone was vibrating loudly against her wooden bed side table so she rolled across the bed sleepily to retrieve it. 'SAM' was flashing on the screen underneath a picture of Sam and herself grinning together. Lara felt her stomach turn slightly but answered nonetheless.

"Sam," she croaked. "Hi."

Sam clocked the huskiness of Lara's voice. "Lara did you only just wake up?"

"Don't sound so bloody disapproving, I..." Lara trailed off. Sam had enough on her plate with her workload- she didn't need to be worrying about Lara and her stupid dreams on top of that.

"You what?" Sam asked. Even through the phone Lara could tell Sam had a brow raised.

"I went to bed late," Lara muttered.

"Oooh, and why would that be? Have a hot guy round last night, did you?"

"Oh please," Lara sighed. "Look, Sam... not to be rude or anything, but why have you called me?"

"Right," Sam said, remembering. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet at Dale Meadows for lunch?"

Despite its name, Dale Meadows was not a sunny plain that provided the number one family picnic destination- it was an individual-owned cafe at the back of beyond where the only customers welcome were 'regulars'. This puzzled Lara because surely to become a regular you actually had to start going in there in the first place, but it was never something that had been a problem for her as Sam had always been her ticket in. After returning from The Island, Lara had decided to move to the USA full time- as opposed to just as a student- as she thought living closer to Sam and the remnants of the crew would help her get better. Sam had been going to Dale Meadows since she was a kid so when she introduced Lara to the place, they were both more than welcome there.

"What time were you planning?" Lara asked thoughtfully, sitting up in bed to read her training timetable that was pinned up on her wardrobe.

"Maybe 1:30?" Sam suggested

"I need to go to the gym and then shower. Then I'll see what time it is and I'll let you know if I'm gonna be late."

"Seriously Lara? The gym _again?_ Do you really have to go for 5 hours every day?"

She did. Since returning from The Island, the gym had become Lara's only escape. Even though she never used the gym before The Island incident, it had suddenly become her therapy when she returned. If she didn't spend at least 5 hours each day working out, her mind started to shut down on itself. Lara didn't even understand why the gym made her feel better, but she had felt so desperate after the return that she was willing to accept anything that worked.

Lara sighed and got ready to lecture her friend. "Sam-"

"Alright, I know, I don't want a rant. Just text when you've finished showering. I'll pick you up a your house."

"We're not walking?" They always walked to Dale Meadows.

"Text me," Sam said conclusively before hanging up.

Lara frowned to herself but got up and dressed anyway. She spent her usual morning session of two hours in the gym and was home for 1:20pm. She jumped in the shower quickly then texted Sam as soon as she was out. Sam replied with 'I'll be there in ten minutes'. This gave Lara just enough time to dry her hair and pull some clean clothes on before Sam's Range Rover pulled up outside. Sam was wearing light blue jeans and a short-sleeved tee over a long-sleeved one. It was weird seeing Sam like this, like nothing had changed. She was getting on with her life. Not like Lara. Not like Lara, stuck in the past with her pathetic nightmares and crazy gym binges.

"Ready?" Sam asked, setting up to drive.

"Wait," Lara commanded, grabbing Sam's hand on the gear stick. As soon as they made contact a buzz shot through Lara. Not the same buzz that had radiated through her at Roth's death, but a different kind that brought her to life momentarily. It was like all of the past few weeks had been a long rollercoaster of a dream and finally she had woken up and found herself at the top with everything and the only thing she needs: Sam.

"What?" Sam asked. "What's the matter?"

Lara plummeted back to reality. She quickly removed her hand.

"Sorry I just- why aren't we walking?"

"Seriously Lara? You spend five hours a day at the gym and you hardly eat a damn thing. I want to limit the amount of exercise you do... well as much as I can. You're wasting away Lara," she murmured as she pulled away from the curb and started towards Dale Meadows.

"You are taking the piss, aren't you?" Lara snapped. But she knew Sam was right.

Lara only ate when it was absolutely necessary and most of her day was taken up by exercise. She wasn't back at work yet- her therapist had suggested to wait until at least 6 months had passed. It had only been almost 3. Luckily Jonah was the person who paid her and was letting her wage carry on through her sick leave. With all the time off work for exercise and not eating, Lara had to admit that she was getting pretty thin. Very thin.

"I'm being serious," Sam assured her. She sounded exasperated.

Lara didn't answer. She felt guilty that Sam was putting in so much effort. But then again... she never asked her to.

When they got to Dale Meadows they were greeted warmly by Harvey, the manager. He was always there because he served at the counter too.

"Sam, my flower. And Lara, my British flower. Come in, come in," he grinned, his European accent ringing loudly throughout the pokey cafe. The place was buzzing as usual and Lara wondered how it came to be like this when Harvey only allowed regulars to enter.

Sam and Lara got a booth towards the other end of the room.

"Lara."

"Sam."

"I need to speak to you about something," Sam said with the kind of confidence that leads you to think she's not confident at all.

"Okay... Should I be worried?" Lara asked, but she smiled because it was probably going to be something stupid.

"Probably not. I just want to ask you a question..."

"Go on then."

Sam was quiet for a while as she studied the menu. This concerned Lara even more because she knew they both knew the whole menu back to front and neither of them ever gave it a second glance.

"Sam, tell me what's up," Lara said, her smile fading.

"I was just wondering... I mean in light of recent events and how you've been acting around me..." Sam grimaced and trailed off.

"Samantha," Lara said sternly. "Spit it out."

"Okay. Do you like me?"

Lara barked a laugh. "Don't be daft. Of course I do, you're my best friend!" she laughed, obviously misunderstanding Sam's use of 'like'.

"No, Lara, that's not what I meant," she muttered bashfully. There was no hint of a smile on her face.

"Well what do you mean?"

"For a so-called survival prodigy you can be kinda stupid at times," Sam sighed. "I meant... are you attracted to me?"

Lara suddenly stopped. She hadn;t been doing anything in particular but she just stopped. She and Sam had never mentioned anything like this before- as far as Lara was concerned they were both straight. They were friends, fair enough, but they weren't _partners_. Then again, they have been really close since their adventure on The Island and they did spend a lot of time together... and that _feeling_ in the car earlier- that certainly had not been platonic.

"Sam- I-" Lara stuttered, her eyes still wide and unmoving.

"Forget it," Sam murmured.. Lara could tell Sam was almost in tears as she ran out of Dale Meadows. Sam jumped in the car and started the engine.

"No, Sam, don't you dare!" Lara yelled as Sam set off driving. She ran after her at full pace and managed to jump in the passenger seat when the car stopped at a red light. Sam winced and wouldn't meet Lara's eye.

"Sam. Sam look at me. Now," Lara ordered, a fierce growl setting in her voice.

Sam looked over at her and became mesmerised... resulting in her swerving to avoid a lorry.

"Sam, pull over," Lara mumbled.

She did as she was told, then looked down at her lap.

"Do you like me? Is that why you asked me? To see if we had mutual feelings?" Lara questioned.

Sam shrugged, then nodded after a pause.

"If you want to know the truth, I..." Lara started. "I don't even know what I feel right now."

Sam took a dramatic deep breath then started talking: "Lara I don't want to sound crazy but I also don't want to lie to you. I think I might love you and I know it sounds stupid and absurd and it's not what you need right now but it's the truth. You mean everything to me- absolutely everything- and I can't even begin to explain how much I care about you and how much I worry about you. It's constant. And I-"

Sam's rambling was cut short as Lara's lips pressed against hers. Damn.


	2. Chapter 2

Lara opened her eyes uneasily as she felt Sam pull away first. However, as her view came into focus, she saw that Sam's eyelids were still leaning on her eyes like a soft blanket. Lara smiled as she realised what had just happened. How could she have ever been unsure about liking Sam? There was no uncertainty about that kiss- it was unlike anything Lara had ever experienced. It was so much better than any man she had kissed, but she didn't know if that was because Sam is a woman or because Sam is Sam.

"Sam," Lara whispered, encouraging Sam to open her eyes. Neither of them had noticed, but somehow their hands had found each other and were linked in Sam's lap.

"Lara," Sam answered, her eyes now fully open and being absorbed into Lara's dark green tornados. That was the only way to describe her eyes; they dragged you in and kept hold of you until they became interested in something else. That's when they threw you out, only for your mind to think about them continuously as you didn't know whether to run towards them or run away. Just like when observing a tornado, it would depend on what kind of person you are.

Lara giggled.

"Hey, what?" Sam asked self-consciously.

"My name really wasn't made to be said with an American accent."

"Really, Lara? We just... well something just happened between us and that's all you can think about?" Sam groaned fondly.

"Oh my gosh, are you one of those people that can't say certain words?" Lara asked, suddenly wide-eyed and serious.

"What are you talking about?" Sam questioned, equally stern.

"You were going to say 'we just kissed', but you couldn't bring yourself to say it, could you? Oh wow... That's... that's really something, Sam."

"Oh shut up. Yes, I find it a little awkward, you're like my best friend!"

"'Like'?" asked Lara, cocking one brow. "I _am_ your best friend, idiot. Well, I thought I was anyway..."

"You are, of course you are. But in all seriousness we do need to talk about this," Sam stated.

"Talk about what?"

"The fact that we... that we just..."

Lara sniggered.

"Okay the fact that we just kissed!" Sam yelled.

"Alright, alright. What is there to say?" Lara asked.

"There's not necessarily anything to say, but we just have to talk about it."

"Wh-? I... Honestly. You Americans and your 'talking about things'," Lara muttered.

"You know this conversation would go a lot further if you stopped insulting my country," Sam murmured back.

"Oh patriotic American are you? Never seen that one before..."  
"Lara!"

"Lara!" Lara mimicked in a rather poor American accent.

"LARA!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I know you're right, we do need to talk," Lara agreed.

Sam nodded and looked expectantly at Lara who looked away shyly.

"Hey, it's okay. It's only me, don't get all shy," Sam smiled, reaching out to Lara's chin and using a single finger to turn her head back towards her. They smiled at each other as Sam moved Lara's hair out of her eyes. It took all of Lara's strength- though she didn't know why she felt she had to hold back- not to kiss Sam again.

"Talk to me Lara... I love you."

Lara blushed and looked down at her lap before muttering, "I love you too."

"Uh, sorry what was that? I couldn't understand you through that thick British accent," Sam teased.

Lara shoved her right shoulder and shook her head. She looked down, still smiling, yet there was something sad about that smile. Sam knew straight away.

"You thinking about Roth?"

Lara nodded.

"You really miss him, don't you?"

She nodded again. "Remember that time during training, when we had to run that assault course and Alex pushed you off the scramble net because he knew you were winning?"

Sam smiled. "Like it was yesterday."

"And I got so angry... I completely lost it. I was going to cut the zip wire line that ran over the lake whilst he was on it because I knew he was a shit swimmer. But then you stopped me because you didn't want me to sink to his level. Do you remember that?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well later on I sat with Roth to cool off whilst you trained. And as I sat there, Roth said, 'One day you need to marry that girl'. Obviously I turned to argue with him but he just said, 'Right now you're looking at her like she is the most precious thing in the world. And earlier, there would've been no way I could have stopped you from cutting that wire, no matter what I said. But you did it for Sam. That's because you love her.'"

"Are you serious? Roth said that?" Sam asked, gobsmacked.

"Yes he did. I was completely speechless and I wanted to argue with him but I just couldn't do it. I suppose it's because I knew he was right, somehow. I do love you. But he knew it a long time before I did."

"Typical Roth," smiled Sam. She put an arm round Lara before pulling her in fully for a hug. Lara relaxed into the hug, but suddenly Sam felt her tense up.

"Lara?"

" _Ssh!_ Sam duck down now, quickly," Lara hissed.

"What?" Sam questioned, startled. She curled up on the floor by the pedals.

"There's somebody watching us," Lara whispered, squinting somewhere in the direction of across the road.

"Are you sure?"

"Certain. He has binoculars and he's staring down from the balcony a couple of streets away."

"Don't stare."

"Why not? He's staring at us."

"Yeah but he'll notice."

"Oh shit I think you're right," Lara mumbled. "I think he has noticed, he's putting the binoculars away in a bag."

"Good, he should know he can't just perv on people like that," Sam grumbled, struggling to rise from her position on the floor.

"I know, it's gross."

"Well do we know him? Can you tell who it is?" asked Sam, partially up now.

Lara didn't answer.

"Lara, I said can you te-"

"SHIT, SAM, _DRIVE! HE'S GOT A GUN!"_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own any of the named characters in this chapter.**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _ **This is a little late now it's the third chapter but I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my story and I really hope you're enjoying it. I would also appreciate any constructive criticism at all, whether that be about the storyline or my writing itself, feel free to leave a review or PM me :) Thanks very much and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**_

" _FOR GOODNESS SAKE, SAM, PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN!"_

"Safety first!" Sam squealed, pulling her seatbelt across her.

"Yes, safety first! As in get the hell away from the man with a gun! Who gives a shit about seatbelts?! _Go!_ "

Sam didn't need telling again. She swerved out into the road, straight in front of another car. The driver sounded his horn and cursed out of the window, but Sam drove on- until she hit traffic lights at the end of the road.

Lara twisted round in her seat to see if the man the gun was still there. Much to her surprise, the balcony was empty.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "He's not there anymore, Sam. He must have ran off when we started to drive away."

Just as Lara finished her sentence, there was a loud _BANG_ , followed instantly by the shattering of the car's back window. Sam screamed and ducked her head down below the steering wheel, knowing there was nothing they could do whilst stuck in a traffic jam. She was shaking hard and waiting for the usual word of advice or direction from Lara, but it never came. Sam looked up at Lara- she wasn't moving, but her breathing came in rapid jolts and Sam knew she was having some kind of panic attack. Sam dared to peek above the dashboard and noticed that the gunshot had scared people into driving on through the red light. Sam didn't hesitate to follow them and lifted her head and arms back above the steering wheel as she put her foot down, desperate to escape from the situation.

Lara barely had time to wince out a raspy "Sam, get down!" before the gunman across the road took a shot at Sam.

Her scream was deafening, so much so that it drowned out the shattering of the window. Her hands retracted from the steering wheel and Lara feared the worst, but she soon noticed the blood running down Sam's left arm and a very brief inspection told her that the bullet had hit the top of her left arm. She was still conscious and her foot was still down on the accelerator. In the rear-view mirror, the gunman was running in the opposite direction at full pace. But Lara wasn't taking any chances; there could be any number of those guys out there.

Lara's breathing fit had suddenly subsided as she was forced into action.

"The one bloody time we take the car," she panted, getting her breathing back.

She reached across and took control of the steering wheel whilst Sam still seemed capable of controlling the pedals. They drove quickly, probably breaking the speed limits, but Sam didn't seem to be in any fit state to care about a driving offense. Working together, they managed to get themselves safely to Lara's house. Once they had pulled up outside, Lara turned Sam's face towards her and saw that the glass had caused a deep gash across her forehead. There were tears and blood running down her face. Instead of flipping Lara into panic, seeing Sam in such a state just made her more eager to carry on.

"Sam, listen to me. We have to swap places so I can drive you to hospital, okay?" Lara said to her, gently.

Sam shook her head. "I'm not going there."

"You have to, Sam. It'll be okay, I'll be there with you the whole time, I promise." Lara put a hand on Sam's leg.

"No. They'll ask questions. We don't have answers," Sam argued, quietly.

Lara knew she was right. There was probably more than one man watching them and it couldn't be a coincidence- this must be linked to The Island and Himiko, right? The doctors and nurses would ask questions and they couldn't talk about The Island. The staff would think they were mad.

Lara sighed as she got out of the car and walked round to Sam's side. She opened the door and bent down slightly to speak to her.

"I know going to hospital would be risky, but how do you expect to be healed if you don't go?" she asked, wiping Sam's tears away.

"You can heal me," Sam replied, looking up at Lara with large, pleading eyes.

"You've got a bullet in your arm, Sammy. I can't do anything about that," Lara told her, smiling softly.

"Liar. You've got the Bag."

The Bag was a small green bag that Lara had labelled 'Medical Equipment I Probably Shouldn't Own'. It was full of complex instruments (usually only found in hospitals) that she had 'acquired' over the years. Thinking about it, Lara probably could fix Sam up with the Bag.

"I can try," Lara murmured, giving in easily. "Can you walk?"

"I got shot in my arm, not my leg... Yeah I can walk," Sam snapped at her playfully.

Lara rolled her eyes. "I thought you might have been less full of sass with a bullet in you... apparently not."

When they got inside, Lara got out a roll of surgical paper and covered a section of her living room floor with it before setting Sam down there. Lara peeled off Sam's leather jacket to find that the bullet was actually only halfway in her arm- the jacket took a lot of the blow. That was one cheep gun.

"Wait," Sam ordered. "Before you do anything..."

She grabbed Lara by her top and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. Sam laughed at Lara when they pulled apart.

"What?" she asked as she rummaged around in the Bag.

"You're all red and dishevelled. It's cute," Sam smiled.

"You know, Sam, if I was laid underneath the person with a number of sleep-inducing drugs next to her, I would be careful not to make fun of her," Lara teased, shaking a pot of tablets at Sam.

Sam laughed some more but stopped talking.

Lara got out a large pair of tweezers and tried to get at the right angle to pull the bullet out. It was a difficult movement and she frowned as she switched positions.

"Can I just..." she trailed off, one leg in the air above Sam.

Sam rolled her eyes and pulled Lara's leg over so she was straddling Sam's pelvis.

"Better?"

"Quite," Lara answered, blushing. "Now I must warn you, this is going to hurt."

"You don't say," Sam muttered.

Lara ignored her and leaned down to carefully pull the bullet out. She did it slowly and with steady hands. Out of her peripheral vision she could see Sam's eyes were screwed up tight and her teeth were biting her bottom lip. Lara tried her best to concentrate on the medical procedure rather than the patient she was carrying it out on, but that was harder than the procedure itself. Sam groaned quietly as the bullet was removed, but she let Lara clean and bandage the wound anyway.

"There," sighed Lara, letting go of all the concentration. "I think it'll be okay like that."

She looked admiringly at her handy work before looking down at Sam. She was met with a glowing smile.

"Can I get up now?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I need to clean your head wound first," Lara pointed out.

"Do I have to be laid on the floor for you to do that?"

"Well... No, but-"

"But you're Lara Croft and you have a power complex and whatever you say, goes, so if you want me on the floor, I have to be on the floor. Am I right?" asked Sam, starting to sit up.

"Maybe I _need_ you to be on the floor," smiled Lara, straddling Sam again.

"Wants and needs are different, Croft."

"Well when a want is this strong I think it _becomes_ a need, Nishimura."

"Ooooh somebody's gaining a little confidence," Sam teased as Lara's face was an inch from her own.

"Sam...?"

"Lara..."

"Do you _want_ to go to hospital?"

Sam giggled. "No."

"Then be a good little Yank and let me stitch up your head," Lara growled.

"Yank? Seriously? Oh go make some tea with the queen or something," Sam snapped playfully.

They both started to laugh which resulted in another long kiss before Lara pulled back.

"Your head, Sam..." she mumbled.

Sam nodded, giving permission for Lara to put a series of butterfly stitches across the cut.

"Okay, now we're finished," nodded Lara once the job was done.

Sam thanked her and made for the door.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Lara asked, frowning.

Sam frowned back, before, "Oh yeah, my jacket."

"Ah no. You're not leaving here today. I won't let you stay at home by yourself, there's something going on. People are obviously after you," Lara explained.

"Me? How do you know they're after me? That guy could just have easily been aiming for you but I got caught in the crossfire. Ever think of that?"

"Yes I did think of that. But I also thought it would have been very easy for him to get to me too. In that car we stopped at those traffic lights long enough for him to get down from the balcony and run across the road to my side. But he didn't. Instead he stayed on the pavement on the other side and shot you. Trust me, if he had _wanted_ me _,_ he would have got me."

Sam hesitated.

"Don't argue," Lara ordered, a slight smile on her face.

"Even if you're right, I'm still going home," decided Sam.

"What? Why?" asked Lara, the smile leaving.

"Because as long as I'm here, you're at risk. If it really is me that they want, they will have watched me come in here and they will be watching me now. If they come and attack us, if they-"

"If schmif. Sam do you really think I care about that?" Lara interjected.

Honestly, Lara did care a little. Her time away from working and those nightmares were all there because of the things she had seen and the things she had done at The Island. She couldn't even call it by its real name, for crying out loud. Although she was getting better, one way she had learnt to put it behind her was by telling herself it was all over, it was in the past, it had finished. But if this really was to do with The Island, maybe it hadn't finished. Maybe her adventure had just found the mercy to give her a break before rebooting and throwing itself into her own town. Lara didn't know if she could deal with that.

"Sam, really, it's no bother. I'll take the pull-out, you can have my bed," Lara continued, finally deciding that Sam was more important than her own mental health.

"Fine. I'll stay," Sam sighed.

"I'll need to go change the sheets on my bed," Lara murmured, getting up.

"Don't be stupid, Lara, I don't care about that," Sam said, strategically leading the conversation on.

"But they got all sweaty last night."

"So you _did_ have a guy round?"

"No, of course not. I actually had a nightma- oh shit I wasn't going to tell you that," Lara groaned, her head in her hands.

"Ha. I knew it. You're taking the bed tonight, you need to sleep properly-"

"But-"

"Don't bother Lara, it's useless. You're sleeping in the bed."

They left it at that. The rest of the afternoon was spent thinking and talking about the gunman that had chased them. Lara poured over books related to The Island and the soldiers that inhabited it, giving a quick glance behind the curtain and out onto the street every now and then. She worked all afternoon and only ate later that evening when Sam force-fed her.

"You know," Lara said through her sandwich. "I never actually realise how hungry I am until I eat."

Sam just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

When it started to get late, Sam made sure Lara was asleep in her room before leaving her to go to sleep on the pullout. But what felt like two minutes after she had fallen asleep, she was woken up by crying and sobs coming from upstairs. Initially confused, Sam stumbled out of bed and tried to get her bearings. When she understood her surroundings and the owner of the cries, she raced upstairs to Lara.

In her double bed, Lara was thrashing around and shaking, cries and inaudible whispers emitting from her mouth.

"Lara!" Sam exclaimed, trying to wake her. "Lara, it's okay it's a dream. Lara!"

Lara woke up in Sam's arms, still shaking and sweating. She cried more as Sam came into focus.

"It's okay," Sam hushed her. "It's gonna be okay."

Lara held Sam's waist tight and sobbed harder, her breathing rapid like it was in the car.

"Sam... I didn't... I forgot..."

"Forgot what?"

"To go... to gym... five hours yesterday," Lara explained through gasps and sobs.

Sam closed her eyes, disappointed, realising that was her fault. Instead of speaking, she laid down next to Lara and cuddled her closely. She stroked Lara's hair and back soothingly and waited until she had calmed before speaking to her.

"You're okay now, Lara. Nothing will happen to you so you can go to sleep okay?"

Sam felt Lara's head nod beneath her chin so she started to get out of the bed but was stopped by Lara's hand clamping round her wrist. Sam turned round to see Lara's sad, empty eyes sailing up to her.

"Stay?" whispered Lara.

So she did.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer : I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam._**

 ** _Author's Note : This is quite a mundane chapter and I admit it's not the best, but I needed to make the story progress a little to get to the more exciting parts. I still very much hope you all enjoy it and, as always, any feedback is appreciated. _**

When Lara woke up in Sam's arms she was surprised to say the least. Her head rested on Sam's upper chest and their arms were wrapped around each other's waist. It felt weird to Lara. She and Sam had been close friends for years and neither of them had ever mentioned their need for each other. In Lara's opinion, it wasn't because they were too scared to come out with it, it was merely that it never seemed important or necessary to do anything about it until now. Somehow, Lara had always managed to cover her feelings- even from herself- in order to maintain the same work-hard, play-hard relationship she had always had with Sam. Of course she had never managed to bury them completely, but perhaps given them a sprinkling of dirt, just to disguise their appearance. Now though, experiencing how right it felt to lay in Sam's arms, Lara had no idea how she had ever succeeded in neglecting these needs.

She was snapped out of her reminiscing when she felt Sam's fingers glide up and down her waistline. Lara supposed it was meant to be soothing, but it just made her stomach do a back-flip. She lifted away from Sam so she could see her face. Sam was awake and smiling at her.

"You're awake," Sam commented, looking at Lara happily.

"Great observation," Lara croaked. Her voice always made her sound like she had laryngitis in the morning.

"Thanks," Sam croaked back, mimicking her.

Lara finally understood how Sam had got there, remembering her nightmare followed by the sudden realisation that she hadn't been to the gym for long enough.

"Shit, Sam, I have to go to the gym. Come with me, I don't want to leave you here alone," Lara ordered, getting out of bed.

"Wait," said Sam, sitting up and pulling Lara back down by the waist.

Lara giggled and fell back onto the bed.

"Breakfast first," Sam whispered into her ear.

It gave Lara goose bumps.

"Hey. That's not fair," Lara murmured. She flipped over so she was facing Sam and kissed her lips repeatedly.

"I don't... care... if it's... fair, you need... breakfast," Sam said sternly in between kisses.

Lara pulled back and sighed.

"Fine," she muttered. "Breakfast it is."

The two women got dressed in separate rooms before congregating in the kitchen. On the doors of the cupboards stood pieces of file paper showered with notes and maps that Lara had stuck up the previous day.

"You work too hard," Sam sighed, shaking her head.

Lara just shrugged and made them both a cup of coffee and a slice of toast.

They took their breakfast into the living room, but Lara stopped as soon as she entered the room.

"What is it?" Sam asked, putting her drink down on the coffee table. Obviously Lara had seen something with her ridiculously brilliant observer's eye that Sam had missed.

"Look," Lara said, nodding her head towards the light that was cast down onto the hard wooden floor through a gap in the curtain.

"What?" Sam asked again, still not catching on.

"It's red. I mean, it has a reddish hue about it," Lara explained. Her eyes were wide and she crept towards the window like she was stepping towards the electric chair. She deposited her last meal on the coffee table and took steady steps forward, her lips pursed, her ears tensed, her eyes tough, and her face fierce.

"Lara..." Sam started, standing up to join her. But Lara silently put out a hand to stop her.

One hand on the curtain, the other curled into a fist, Lara automatically altered her stance into a fighting poise. Suddenly she whipped back the curtain and lifted her arm, ready to punch. However, Lara was greeted not with a person, but with a message. Streaky letters were painted across the window in a bold red. They read: _'She will be mine next time'_.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, looking over Lara's shoulder.

Lara didn't answer her. She wiped her finger across the 'S' then inspected it. A red smear had been left across her fingerprint.

"Sam, it's on the inside. Someone was in here last night," Lara muttered, turning round to show Sam.

"I didn't hear anyone, it couldn't have been when I was in here," Sam pointed out.

"What time did you erm... did you... join me?" Lara asked feebly.

If the situation wasn't so serious, Sam would have made fun of her for that.

"I don't know, I didn't look. It was still dark though."

There was a pause.

"Is that written in blood?" Sam asked.

"I don't think so," Lara said, sniffing it.

Sam sat back down whilst Lara went to wash her hands. When she returned, Sam was crying.

"Don't worry, Sam. It will be okay, I promise you," Lara murmured, though she had no idea how she was going to make everything okay. She could run and hunt and build and fight. But she couldn't fight someone who she couldn't find. Then again, she hadn't yet looked.

She sighed as she heard something being posted through the letterbox. It was a small, red envelope with ' _MISS.S.N'_ printed in gold across the top of it. Although the colours were strange, Lara was not initially alarmed. Before The Island, Sam and Lara had shared this house and some of Sam's subscriptions were still posted here.

"It's for you," Lara muttered.

She gave it to Sam who stopped crying immediately. Her face went pale, her Portuguese-Japanese bronze vanishing from her skin. Sam opened the envelope and revealed a white piece of paper with the same red, shaky writing on it.

It read: _Your girlfriend was wrong. It was cow blood. And so is this._

Sam screamed and dropped the paper. Lara read it quickly before bolting for the door and out onto the street. There was nobody in sight, but she raced across the cul-de-sac and down the road as quickly as she could. As she reached the main road, the number of cars started to multiply, passing her in all directions. She stood still, panting desperately and searching up and down the street for any sign of a guilty fugitive- though something told Lara this criminal wasn't the guilty type. She was about to give up when she noticed a man in sunglasses peeking over the top of a wall in the next cul-de-sac. He noticed her looking. He grinned maliciously then took off. She was angry.

Much to the dismay of 4 drivers, Lara pelted across the busy road and up the hill of the large cul-de-sac. The man turned a sudden corner and Lara struggled to keep with him. She turned the corner herself only 2 seconds later, but he had already gone. She followed the narrow path that was sandwiched between two houses but came to a dead end created by a 6ft high wall. Lara didn't slow down- she sprinted to the wall and pulled herself up, grazing her elbows and forearms in the process. She expected to see the man running away from her across a garden. Instead, she was greeted by a pair of confused twins who had halted their game of Swingball to stare at her.

"Hi," said the boy closest to her. "I'm Austin. That's Brandon. Who are you?"

 _They can't be any older than 7,_ Lara thought. _But I have to ask them._

"I'm Lara," she said breathlessly. "You don't happen to have seen a man with dark glasses round here, do you?"

"Why do you speak like that?" Brandon asked quizzically.

"I'm English. Can you answer my question please?" Lara replied impatiently.

"Our dad has dark glasses," Austin piped up, as though suddenly realising.

"Really? Could you go and fetch him for me?" asked Lara, pulling herself up to sit on the wall.

Both of the boys ran inside and reappeared with a tall man wearing a dark blue polo shirt tucked into light blue jeans. He had dark glasses on and carried a long, metal stick. One boy stood clutching each arm. The man was clearly blind.

"She's up on the wall, Dad," one of the boys said. Lara no longer knew which boy was which now they had changed positions.

"Hello?" asked the father, facing slightly to the right of Lara.

"Hello, Sir. I'm sorry to bother you, I was looking for someone who came down this path and he was wearing sunglasses. I asked your sons if they had seen him and well- I suppose they thought I meant you," Lara explained.

The man chuckled. "You sound out of breath. Was this some kind of chase, are you a cop?"

"Yes- I mean no. It was a chase, but I'm not a police officer. Like I said, I'm sorry to bother you. I'll be going now."

She slipped off the wall but the father said, "Why don't you stay for some coffee?"

"Oh no thank you! I really must get back. Bye now!" she shouted over the wall.

She set off on a light jog, getting faster and faster as she thought of Sam alone in the house. Maybe they should have just called the police...

"Sam?" Lara shouted, slightly louder than necessary, when she got back to the house.

There was no reply.

"Sam!" she yelled more urgently. "Sam, bloody answer me!"

There was still silence.

She got to the living room and found it to be empty of people. There was, however, a note on the coffee table, propped up against Sam's coffee. Yet again, it was written in 'blood'.

 _Lara, Lara, Lara..._

 _I told you she would be mine but I didn't think it would happen that quick. You shouldn't have been so quick to leave little Sammy by herself. You obviously don't love her as much as I thought you did. Now I don't want you to worry, I'm not going to hurt her. Not yet. I like to play with my... food. I like to play games and I'd very much like to play with you. I do encourage you to accept this offer, unless you want your next message to be written in Samantha's blood. And of course we wouldn't want that, would we? I like a good riddle and I love a good Game. It begins here. Let's play._


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note**_ _ **: This is a slightly shorter chapter, but hopefully still engaging! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer**_ _ **: I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam.**_

Lara read the note twice. She read it a third time. Then a fourth. Then a fifth and a sixth and a seventh and she didn't stop until she could no longer read the note without going lightheaded. She had already vomited. It was the thought of this man taking Sam away from her, the thought of him keeping her locked away, torturing her. Though Lara didn't actually know what this man looked like, or whether he was a man at all. It had become clear to her that there were several people working on this mission and so far she had only seen two. Obviously the man who she chased wasn't the same person who had kidnapped Sam. The other thing that occurred to Lara was _how_ someone had managed to kidnap her- to take someone in broad daylight and get away without people noticing any screaming must have taken an enormous amount of planning and strategic effort. Unless, of course, Sam didn't scream. This notion was even worse to Lara as it suggested Sam had been unconscious throughout the kidnap.

 _Unconscious,_ Lara thought. _If she was unconscious she either got hit or somebody drugged her. That means..._

Lara sighed. She didn't know what that meant. She felt helpless, but she had to keep going. Cow Blood (this was Lara's name for the person who left the notes- a _he_ she had decided) had mentioned that he enjoyed playing with riddles and games, so surely that meant there was a riddle or clue in the note somewhere. He wouldn't have left Lara without a clue, she knew that for sure. He said he wouldn't hurt Sam without playing with her- and Lara- first. Of course, Lara couldn't trust this man, yet somehow she knew that playing the game was Cow Blood's intentions for her. It wouldn't be easy, but she knew that she was expected to work fast and hard. Besides, if that's what it would take to get Sam back and find out what these people want with her, it would be worth it.

Lara did a quick workout to get her blood pumping before setting down to work.

 _A riddle..._ she thought. _Let's see. Perhaps there's some kind of skip code or anagram in the messages._

She puzzled over the large, now fading letters on the window, rearranging the words and letters until she could think of no other combinations. Nothing seemed to work. She repeated this with the note from the envelope addressed to Sam as well as the note she had just recently received. She was still none the wiser.

 _Think, Lara, think! It's all in the same hand writing, yet the man who posted the envelope was different to the one who took Sam, he had to be. So he was a messenger. Cow Blood wrote the note and made him post it. Then when I chased him, Cow Blood came into the house, wrote the note and took Sam. But why wouldn't he have written the note beforehand? Maybe he did... So it could have been another one of Cow Blood's minions that took Sam. God._

Lara sighed and let out a frustrated groan. Cow Blood was smarter than she, and he knew how to piss her off. She needed help.

Lara shoved the note into the pocket of her cargo trousers and went outside. She figured she was probably being watched, but at this point she didn't really care. She walked along the pavement and went up the driveway of the house next door, giving the door a hard rap.

A large Indian lady dressed in traditional Indian dress greeted Lara with a large grin. The two had known each other for a short amount of time but got on very well.

"Hello, Lara," she said, her light Indian accent giving the words a natural flow. "Are you well?"

"Yes thank you, Mrs Arya. And yourself?" Lara replied politely. She tried to smile and keep her patience, but her leg bounced with anticipation.

"I am well, we all are," Mrs Arya smiled, referring to her family. "How can I help you?"

"I was just wondering- it's quite strange actually- if..." Lara stalled momentarily, realising she was going to sound suspicious. "I was wondering if you had heard any- er- screaming this morning?"

"Screaming? No, not that I recall. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. Sam's cousins are here and I've been looking after them. They're very young so we're playing hide and seek. I was wondering if you'd heard them, I can't seem to find them," Lara lied fluently. It was a rubbish lie, but it was good enough.

"Lara! You have lost Samantha's children!" Mrs Arya exclaimed, flying into a panic.

"No no no!" Lara assured her. "I haven't lost her _children_ , they're her cousins! And I haven't lost them anyway, we're playing hide and seek."

"You should call the police, Lara. There are nasty men around these days." Mrs Arya reached for the phone.

" _No!"_

Mrs Arya jumped, a very startled expression on her face.

"No, it's okay. I think I just heard them now. Thank you for your help though."

"I hear nothing, Lara," Mrs Arya argued.

"No it's definitely them. Trust me," Lara said, trying to smile convincingly. "Those little... rascals."

Mrs Arya seemed confused, but she let Lara walk away and she shut the door after her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Lara, turning back. "Mrs Arya, one more thing."

She went back up to the door. The idea had only just come to her and she regretted it the moment she handed over the note. She hoped Mrs Arya wouldn't notice it was written in blood.

Lara watched her facial expression carefully as she finished reading.

"What is this?" she asked Lara, bemused.

"It's a note... from a treasure hunt for the kids. Sam left it before work and there's some kind of riddle in it, but I can't work it out myself, never mind letting the kids puzzle it through. I was wondering if you could work it out?" Lara explained, false-cheerfully.

"I don't know, but that is disturbing. I would not give this to my children," Mrs Arya replied, suddenly looking stern and disapproving.

"It's only a game, Mrs Arya. The kids will love it."

"Hmph," she replied, shaking her head. "I am sorry but I cannot help you. The only thing I do know is that my English is better than Sam's and I'm not even from this country."

Lara frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I was born and raised in India so English is not my native language."  
"No, I mean what's wrong with Co- Sam's English?"

"Well, look here. She has put a capital letter in the middle of the sentence," Mrs Arya pointed out, poking her finger at ' _I like a good riddle and I love a good Game'._

Lara hadn't even noticed that. But now she had, she didn't know how she could have missed it. Of course, she still didn't know what it meant. But the riddle obviously had something to do with that.

"Thanks again, Mrs Arya!" she said, snatching the note back and running into her own house.

She darted back to the living room and pulled out her laptop, opening it quickly. Yet again, however, she came to a halt in her tracks. Microsoft Word was open with a message written on it. It was written in a large, red font.

 _Obviously_ , Lara thought.

The message read: _Seeking help? I thought you were smarter. I'll let you off this time. It is, after all, only the first stage. Good luck with your puzzles, Lara._

Lara breathed out through her nose angrily. Cow Blood was messing with her and she didn't like it one bit. She slammed the laptop shut and walked to the window, looking around to see how someone could have possibly been in and out of her house without her noticing from only yards away. She flung the large window open and stuck her head out.

"Show yourself!" she screamed at the top of her voice. "Come and fight me face to face, then we'll see who wins!"

There was silence, broken only by the sway of trees outside her window. She could see a few of her neighbours opening their doors and shooting her quizzical glares. She pulled her head back in and went to sit down. This was too much, too fast. It was too soon after The Island. It was too much to deal with, yet she couldn't simply run from the situation. It wasn't going to fix itself. Lara was all set and ready to give up, but she reminded herself that Sam was probably crying her heart out right now, waiting for Lara to swoop in and save the day. Sam needed Lara. Lara was her only hope and she couldn't be let down.

Lara thought hard about _Game_.

 _Game..._ she thought. _What are you? An organisation, an acronym of some sort? You were written like that for a reason. But what reason?_

Lara returned to her laptop and googled _Game_ , making sure the capital letter was there. A couple of seconds later, her answer was staring her in the face.

 _ **Author's Note: So I wanna know what you guys think Game means! Let me know in a review or PM and we'll see if you're correct. Don't cheat with Google! It may spoil the next part of the story. Try and work it out with your own knowledge, but UK readers do have a slight advantage.**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer_** ** _: I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam._**

 _ **Author's Note**_ _ **: Slightly longer wait than usual, but as I was writing this chapter a lot of new ideas started popping into my head so there was a lot of editing and planning. Still, I hope it paid off. Do enjoy!**_

"Game! Of course, it's the computer game shop!" Lara exclaimed, staring at the purple _GAME_ logo at the top of her screen. "How did I not realise that?!"

She shook her head disapprovingly at herself for not working it out sooner. When Lara lived in England it had been one of her favourite shops. Despite not being very good at computer games (she wasn't actually that interested in them), as a child she visited the place a lot with her next-door neighbour and it was a place that, ironically, opened her eyes to the real world. _Game_ was the workplace to many computer game fanatic stereotypes. Lara would often hear people smirk or make a snide comment about the employees there. It pissed her off. As a child she failed to understand why it was acceptable for people to make fun of other people because they were passionate about their hobby or job. More than the anger that she felt, though, Lara felt respect for the employees. They weren't afraid to be themselves and be happy about it. They would give great customer service and help anyone with anything they needed. Each day that Lara aged, she understood how it was acceptable for these kinds of people to have the piss taken out of them... though she never understood why.

Taking all of this into account, Lara's breathing grew faster and her pulse increased. Cow Blood clearly knew this place had been a big part of her childhood and had, in fact, shaped parts of her life. If he didn't know such information, why would he use _Game_ as part of his little riddle. It couldn't be coincidence. How did he know these things about her? And what was she supposed to do now that she knew the hidden word in the note? She still didn't have a clue why it was in there or what she had to do.

 _I need help_ , she thought to herself. _Yet again, I need help_.

Lara grabbed her jacket, despite the blistering heat emitting from the afternoon sun, before making sure all of the windows and doors were locked securely. Once she was convinced the house was burglar-proof, though she doubted this would prevent Cow Blood from leaving her another message, she got in her car and made her way to Dale Meadows. Harvey was always brilliant in a crisis.

When Lara arrived she didn't bother to check if anyone was following her- she was almost certain somebody would be. She marched into the café with her jacket slung over one arm, her back straight and her stride confident. Harvey grinned widely as soon as he saw her, but frowned when he realised she was alone.

"Lara, my darling. You have come here without Sam today, I see," he commented, letting her approach him at the counter.

"Could we go into your study?" Lara asked, quite aware that with a place as packed as this she wouldn't notice if someone was listening to her conversation.

Harvey nodded seriously and led Lara through a door that branched off from the side of the café. As soon as the door shut behind them, the endless buzz of voices from the café died out and was replaced with the familiar yet tense quiet of Harvey's corridor. The left hand side was a wall of portraits, all of which were pictures of Harvey's ancestors. As they walked on and got closer to the study, the portraits became newer and newer, the newest displaying Harvey's parents and their siblings. The right hand side sparked more interest in Lara though. Dark, waist-high cabinets lined the wall, shelving various old vases and pottery that obviously dated back to centuries ago. Some of the pottery came in ornaments or statues, where as other pieces simply _were_ just pieces- age and soil had not been kind to them and had caused them to fall apart spectacularly. One particularly well cared for Greek vase caught Lara's eye and she stopped to admire it. It was pale orange in colour and had black silhouettes of humanoid figures painted on the side that faced her. One was a tall, gangly character and the other was a small and thin figure. She supposed it was a mother and child. Lara frowned at the ancient Greek style of the vase as she recalled seeing it in a book of modern mythology that she had flicked through at the library not so long ago. The vase hadn't been here the last time she had walked down this corridor.

"Say, Harvey..." she started. "Where did you get this?"

Harvey turned as he was shoving the key into the lock of his study. He squinted to see what Lara was referring to.

"Ah that," he smiled, walking over to join her. "That is of no value, I'm afraid. I bought it at a jumble sale a couple of weeks ago."

Lara chuckled. "But the rest of these vases are real art, Harvey. They're invaluable, irreplaceable pieces of art. And you're telling me you'll let this piece of... _rubbish_ just sit around amongst them?"

"Oh Lara," Harvey laughed. "You make everything so dramatic. Just because this vase isn't old or expensive it doesn't make it any less beautiful. The kind man who sold it to me told me that this is a picture of a mother caring for a sick child."

Harvey pointed at how the taller character had its arm around the smaller one.

"I think that is art," he smiled, admiring the vase closely. "You, Lara Croft, only find dirty, buried statues beautiful. That is your only art."

Lara laughed harder. "I'm an archaeologist, Harvey. That's my job, you know that."

"Of course I do. Just something for you to think about, hm?"

Lara shrugged and followed as Harvey returned to unlocking the study. Once inside, Lara hoped for more archaeological (or apparently _not_ so archaeological) ornaments to make an appearance, but she was disappointed as the room held only a chair, a desk and a pile of paperwork; it was the same as last time.

Harvey gestured for Lara to take the chair but she refused, insisting this would be a short visit and her legs could withstand the length of the conversation. As a result of this, they both remained standing.

"I just need to ask you a question," Lara started. "Where is the nearest _Game_?"

"Nearest game?" Harvey repeated. "Do you mean the nearest arcade, casino, brothel, what?"

"No, no. I mean the shop called _Game_. It sells computer games and consoles and... all that jazz," she explained hurriedly.

"I'm not sure I understand," frowned Harvey.

Lara took out her mobile and showed Harvey the shop she was looking for.

"Oh. Yes, of course. I know the place, but we do not have it here in the USA," he answered, shaking his head as though this was a great loss for him.

"What? What do you mean? Of course you have _Game_ here, you must do," Lara insisted, desperately.

"I'm afraid not. Look there." Harvey pointed to the phone screen.

Lara followed his finger and sighed. He was right. It quite clearly stated that _Game_ is a ' _British_ video games retail company'.

"I suppose you are wanting a new game? If this is the case, there is a different video game store around the corner which-"

"No, it has to be _Game_ ," Lara murmured, not wanting to give too much away.

"Specifically? Hm... I think my British flower is missing her home country, wouldn't you say?"

Lara forced a smiled but sighed again. There was a pause before Harvey started rustling through some papers on his desk.

"You know, Lara, I recognise the Game logo. I'm sure I've seen it around here somewhere for a long time now," Harvey muttered.

Lara waited patiently as he rifled through his stacks of papers. She was hopeful but doubtful. It was unlikely that Harvey had seen the same logo if the shop wasn't even active in the USA.

Nevertheless, moments later he shouted, "Here it is!"

Lara looked up and saw that he was waving a flyer around.

"It came in the mail a couple of weeks ago."

Lara took the flyer and recognised the logo immediately. Harvey was correct again- the logo matched that of the official Game shop, but there was a small banner underneath that stated 'fan-made replica store'. Lara read on and found that a young man named Tom from Wales had moved to America two years ago and was 'devastated' to discover the country didn't have _Game_. To make up for this, he made his own video game shop in the style of _Game_ : 'for all those Brits that miss the good ol' shops'. It stated that he collaborated with _Game_ to replicate their shop with their consent.

"52 Northumberland Street," Lara read from the bottom of the flyer. "That's about a couple of streets away from the gym, isn't it?"

"It is," Harvey agreed, nodding. "Do you think you could get your desired video game from here?"

Lara was confused momentarily before realising she hadn't told Harvey the purpose of the trip so he probably figured a video game was what she was after.

"Oh yes. I think this shop will definitely have what I'm looking for," Lara murmured truthfully. "Thank you, Harvey. You've been a great help."

Lara allowed Harvey to lead her back through the bustle of the cafe and out to her car. Once in the driver's seat she rolled down the window.

"Thanks again for your help, Harvey," Lara said, forcing a smile. It was starting to hit home for her just how hard this task was going to be.

"Don't mention it," he replied. "But I must ask, Lara. Where is your beautiful Sam today?"

Lara blushed. "She's not _my_ Sam, she-"

"Ah ah!" Harvey rebuked her. "You can't hide anything from me. You two are a very nice couple. I 'ship' you, as these young kids say nowadays."

Lara grinned and looked away.

"Oh!" Harvey exclaimed. "The video game is a surprise for her! I see now. Don't worry, my lips are sealed."

Harvey winked at her before waving her off as she drove away. Next stop: 52 Northumberland Street.

When Lara pulled up outside the shop she wasn't surprised to find it was empty. One of the windows was plastered with various posters advertising concerts and plays showing in the area, but the other window gave her a decent view of the shop. In the shop she could see a large range of video games and consoles as well as merchandise stacked up on shelves. The shop had a very purple theme to it and the _Game_ logo was hung above the door and in the windows either side. On approaching the door, Lara could see a short man with bristly, brown hair sat behind the counter at the far end of the shop. He was frowning intently at a magazine and sipping from a cup of pop. She guessed he must be Tom.

She sighed. _I might as well go for it. I have nothing to lose._

Lara was about to push the door open when something caught her eye. Amongst the mess of posters and flyers in the window sat a white piece of paper. It had deep red, streaming writing on it. Lara also noticed it was tacked onto the outside of the window as opposed to the rest which were taped on from the inside. She walked over to it and pulled it off the window. It was still wet.

 _Asking for help again, Lara? And here I was believing you to be an independent young woman. Still, you're here now. Enter the shop. Get your game. Play it._

Lara sighed and folded up the paper, careful not to let any of the blood drip on her. Obviously there had been eyes on her since she had left the house, but she had expected no less. She did as she was told and went inside the shop. Tom had disappeared from behind the counter, but there was an open door behind where he had been sat. Lara supposed he was in there. This raised suspicions in her, but she continued into the shop and made her way down some of the aisles, careful to keep an eye on the open door. She had no idea where to start- she didn't actually own a game console and she hadn't been given a clue to which game she needed. As she turned onto the last aisle, there was a note waiting for her on the floor.

 _Ask for assistance, Lara. After all, you did always find the staff rather helpful, didn't you?_

Lara felt her blood pump faster as anger rose in her. This wasn't fair. Cow Blood seemed to know everything about her, no matter how personal- she knew next to nothing about him apart from the fact he was some kind of psychopath. Nevertheless, she cautiously made her way to the counter and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," said Lara, ready to duck and run if she had to.

Tom appeared almost immediately, startling Lara into gasping.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Tom smiled, enthusiastically. "Oh... You must be Lara Croft."

"Must I?" Lara asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I got a delivery for you only five minutes ago. Wait here, I'll be right back."

Lara bit her lip, unsure of whether she was safe or not. Still, Tom seemed nice enough and he returned with just a game in hand.

"I've never heard of this game before," Tom told Lara. "Either it's brand new, or it's not out yet and you're a very lucky lady."

Lara took the game from him and looked at the front cover. Her eyes widened and her heart started beating rapidly. She couldn't believe it.

The picture across the front was a dark, eerie setting. It looked like some sort of cellar. At the top it read "Nishimura Travels". In the middle of the cellar sat Sam. Sam. Not a CGI version of Sam. Sam. A photograph of the real Sam. Sam tied up in a chair with blood pouring down her wincing face. Lara trembled. The game dropped from her hands as she vomited into Tom's bin. This was sick.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam_**

 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _Again, I appreciate there was a longer wait for this chapter, but a chapter every other day seems like a realistic system right now :) As we get further into the story it's becoming a little harder and more time consuming so the chapters may take longer to be edited and published. Thanks for reading. Enjoy!_**

"Er- Miss Croft?" Tom asked cautiously, moving round the counter to comfort Lara.

She shook him off and wiped her mouth.

"Are you okay?" Tom questioned. He picked up the game for her and stared at the bin.

"I'm sorry," Lara breathed. "I'll take that out to the skips for you."

"Don't worry about it," he murmured, nodding his head.

Lara nodded back and wiped her mouth. She stared at the floor, trying to understand logically and rationally everything that had just happened to her. She completely forgot where she was and that Tom was in the room with her.

"Are you ill or..." he started.

"No, no," Lara said, looking up suddenly.

Tom frowned before Lara realised she probably should have said yes.

"I mean yes..." she murmured. "That time of the month. Anyway... I'll be going now."

"Of course," nodded Tom sympathetically.

"Oh, how much do I owe you for the game?" Lara asked as he gave her the box back.

"Nothing. Already paid for, according to the delivery man."  
"Yes, of course. Thank you."

She grabbed the tiny basket bin and hurried out of the shop, keeping her promise and throwing it into the skips before returning to her car.

"What the hell _is_ this?" Lara asked herself, staring at the game. Her hands were shaking terribly and she had tears in her eyes, but she refused to break down; she had to stay strong for Sam.

On examining the front of the box, she discovered the game was for _Xbox360,_ a console which she didn't own. She knew where she could find one though: there was one sitting in the middle of Sam's living room. However, it was on turning the box over that Lara discovered what she had to do.

 _Join Nishimura on her latest travels yet. After surviving Yamatai-_ Lara flinched at the name- _she is back for more adventures involving dangerous games, narrow escapes and emotional turmoil._ _LITERALLY_ _control Nishimura and help her: escape from hostage situations; use self-defence against lethal attackers; and meet up with her best buddy Lara Croft! But be careful! Nishimura has a very limited number of lives in order to make this game as_ _REAL_ _as possible! It's the most realistic action-adventure game yet._

Lara's eyes widened. She didn't need help this time. It was obvious from the use of capitalisation and underlining that the game wasn't a game it all. Somehow, this disc would be connected to the real Sam and Lara had to save her. Otherwise she would die. It was down to Lara to get her 'buddy' out of this mess.

That was something that sparked interest in Lara. Cow Blood had referred to her as Sam's 'best buddy' as opposed to 'girlfriend' as he had on a previous note. This suggested that this had been planned for a while- the back of the box had been written before they kissed in the car. Lara frowned. She looked at the spine of the box and realised the back and front were two separate pieces of paper, so the picture of Sam on the front really could be a current picture of her. Obviously a lot of thought had been put into this 'game'.

Lara drove to Sam's house quickly and recklessly, being yelled at by four different drivers. Nevertheless, she made it there within 10 minutes, all limbs intact. She ran out of the car and to Sam's front door, her jacket pulled round her now the sun had started to set for the evening. She shoved the spare key that Sam had given her into the lock and twisted it desperately, only to find the door was already open. Of course it was.

Lara pushed open the door and looked around cautiously. She thought she heard something but she couldn't be sure. Besides, that wasn't her main priority right now. Instead of investigating, she ran into the living room and found the TV turned on with the _Xbox360_ screen staring back at her. The controller was sat on the floor next to Sam's cushiony gaming chair. As Lara sat in the chair she looked at the framed picture of herself and Sam that sat on top of the TV. The photo was from university. They were sat on the quad, just having fun together. Lara was laughing and holding Sam's hand as it was slung round her shoulders. Sam's head was resting on Lara's shoulder and she was also smiling broadly.

Looking at the picture now, Lara could see the attraction between them, but she couldn't remember what they had been laughing at. She looked a little closer at the photo and noticed a red smear across the top of the frame. She picked it up and turned it over. There was a message on the back.

 _Beautiful photograph. But you shouldn't be looking at it right now. Play the game if you ever want to recreate anything like this._

"Fine," Lara grunted, taking the picture out of the frame and slipping it in her pocket. "I'll play your bloody, fucking game."

She put the disc in and started up the game. As the title screen came on, a message popped up instructing her to insert the ear pierce and microphone that was sitting beside the console. She did so and selected the option to 'play'. The screen faded out and took a while to load before Sam suddenly appeared on the screen. The camera was moving around slightly, as though a person was holding it without support.

"Sam!" Lara yelled instinctively. She was astounded to hear a reply.

"Lara! Lara can you hear me?" Sam replied, suddenly looking up at the camera and struggling against the ropes holding her in the chair. Lara could hear Sam's shouts as though they were in the same building.

"Yes! Sam I can hear you, can you hear me?!" Lara yelled back. She suddenly noticed the flashing 'live' icon in the top right corner of the screen.

"Yes I can hear you! You've got to help me, you've got to get me out of here!"

Lara could see the hope fill in Sam's eyes at the sound of Lara's voice and it pushed Lara over the edge. She started to cry quietly so Sam wouldn't hear her. She didn't want Sam to think she couldn't handle this. She could.

"Don't worry, Sam," she said, trying to sound okay. "I'll get you out. Where are you?"

"I'm in th-" Sam was cut off as her muscles went into spasm and she yelped.

Lara grimaced as she could just make out a small, deep laugh. She assumed this came from the person holding the camera.

"I can't tell you, Lara. If I tell you where I am, he sends electrical impulses through me," Sam murmured once she had recovered. She was starting to cry too.

"It's okay. I'll find you myself, don't tell me anything," Lara replied. She didn't want Sam to get hurt any more than she already had been. Even on the screen Lara could see the blood and gashes across Sam's face and arms. Lara made a mental note of Sam's use of 'he' before continuing.

"Okay, Sam. The man you're with, what does he look like?"

"He's wearing je-" Sam was given another electric shock.

"Sorry," Lara whispered, biting her lip. "What do I have to do?"

"I don't know. Where are you?" Sam asked.

"I'm i-" Lara was cut off by a deep voice coming from behind the camera.

"Answer that and the voltage increases," he said. It was easy to tell he was grinning.

"Okay, I'm not answering it," Lara said quickly.

Lara tried to study the room Sam was in but there really was nothing to see. The room was dark and dusty. There was a vertical wooden beam to Sam's left but apart from that there was nothing to see. The floor was concrete and the chair she sat on was a light wooden structure.

"Lara?"

"Yes, I'm still here."

"Can you see me?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I'm on the Xbox. You're on a game disc," Lara said, smiling. Sam knew Lara didn't have an Xbox.

As expected, her eyes lit up and she smiled ever-so-slightly. Had she guessed Lara was in her house?

"You know, on the Xbox, you can change your view of the room," Sam murmured before getting another shock.

"We're not supposed to give her any help. She's had enough already," the gravelly voice murmured.

Lara suddenly remembered the time she played _Grand Theft Auto_ with Sam and pressed the button that changes view.

Suddenly the screen switched to a different camera and she could see the back of Sam's head. This camera was still and must have been set up in the darkness behind Sam's chair, for it was impossible to see from the other camera's point of view. It was set up as though Lara was playing as Sam's character.

Then Lara understood. The words on the back of the box told her she could control Sam. That part was true. She moved the left analogue stick and Sam lurched forward and screamed.

"Shit. Sorry, Sam. I'm controlling you with your bloody Xbox controller," Lara muttered, before shoving a hand over her mouth.

"Don't say any more!" yelled the man holding the other camera.

Lara used the controls to untie Sam from the ropes and made her stand up.

"Thank you," Sam breathed.

Lara didn't know if Sam was talking to her or to the man holding the camera for letting this happen. Either way, her thoughts were stopped short as there was a loud bang and a gun fell by Sam's feet. Lara quickly made Sam pick it up as two men appeared in front of her from a door behind the now visible cameraman. They both smiled and had guns pointing at Sam. Lara heard Sam sob.

 _You're going to have to do it, Lara. For Sam's sake. Just like on The Island. It's for Sam's sake._

Lara hesitated only for a second before pressing the right trigger at both of the men. They yelled and fell to the floor as Lara sighed with relief. The game description had been right. She had escaped a hostage situation and fought off lethal attackers. Could the part about meeting Lara be true too? Maybe, but what was the catch.

Lara jumped as Sam let out a deafening scream. One of the men on the floor was twitching. Instead of shooting him again, Lara jumped to her feet. Why? She had heard the scream herself. It had come from upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer:_ _I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam._**

 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _Here's chapter 8 :) short but sweet! Well... kind of._**

Lara ran upstairs as fast as she could, taking the steps two at a time. She had been to Sam's house numerous times and knew that Sam wasn't in any of the rooms on the second floor. Instead of checking, she ran straight to the cupboard on the landing and flung the door open. Straight away she found what she was looking for- the loft hatch pole. Lara snatched it and rushed over to the loft hatch in the centre of the ceiling. With hands as steady as she could muster, she reached up and hooked the pole in the catch, twisting it and letting the hatch fall open with the pole still attached. To Lara's surprise and horror, the ladder fell straight down out of the hatch, giving Lara barely half a second to jump out of the way. The person to use the hatch before her obviously hadn't put the ladders back properly. Lara managed to hop to the left in time, the foot of the ladder skimming her upper right cheek leaving a graze and a small bruise. She didn't waste a second though; moments later Lara was clambering up the ladder and into the darkness above. She reached for the light string and tugged on it hard. After a yellow flicker or two, the loft filled with light and time seemed to slow as Lara looked around desperately. As her head swung to the right, she was greeted with Sam stood in front of the short wooden chair she had been sat on. At first, she was staring down at the bodies on the floor, but she looked up in shock as the lights came on and Lara ran up through the hatch. Lara made a quick glance to her left to find the cameraman, but was surprised and delighted to find she and Sam were alone.

"Sam," Lara breathed, running towards her.

Tears started to collect in her eyes as she pulled Sam into a tight embrace. Sam's arms clung to Lara's back and waist, feeling Lara as though she had to check she was real. Sam's hands were still jumping up and down Lara's back when Lara pulled back in order to snog Sam like she had never been snogged before.

Sam let her tongue slide under Lara's and wasted no time in reciprocating the gesture. She smiled broadly as she felt Lara's tongue exploring her mouth hungrily. Lara had obviously missed her as much as she had missed Lara.

"Lara," Sam attempted to say through the kiss, but it came out as a barely audible groan.

Sam rolled her eyes and grabbed Lara's shoulders before shoving her hard. Lara's eyes flew open and she breathed out in quick, heavy gasps.

"What was that for?" Lara asked, wiping her mouth with the cuff of her jacket.

"We need to get out of here," Sam said, still smiling.

Lara just smiled back and took hold of both of Sam's hands, running her own hands up Sam's arms. She frowned before turning Sam's arms over to see the underside of them.

"What are those?" Lara asked, staring at some sort of metal strips that were partially embedded into Sam's skin.

"That's what they used for the electric pulses. And so you could control me," Sam murmured, looking down at them.

"Bastards," Lara muttered. "How are they attached?"

"I don't know. They did it while I was unconscious when they kidnapped me. They drugged me."

Lara sighed. "I thought as much. So I don't suppose you remember the person who took you?"

"I never saw whoever it was. They just came up behind me while I was still watching you run down the road," Sam said softly.

"It's okay, you're safe now," Lara smiled, cradling Sam's waist and kissing her forehead.

"Don't lie to your girlfriend, Croft," said a booming voice. It came from a speaker that was situated in the corner behind Sam.

Sam winced and clutched Lara closer.

"Come on, let's go," Lara hissed. She grabbed Sam's hand and tugged her towards the hatch but was stopped short as two large men appeared at the top. They were both of a strong, solid build, towering over the two women with ease. One of them was bald, the other with a limp blond attempt of an afro. They both smiled with dark eyes and started to approach Lara and Sam. Lara pushed Sam behind her, holding an arm out to protect her. If only she could get Sam out of here...

The men didn't speak at all, just continued to shorten the distance between themselves and Lara and Sam. Lara slowly and strategically started to step slightly to her right as she backed away, keeping her arm out so Sam would follow her step. She continued to do this so they were moving around the men and swapping original positions. The men followed this lead and continued to close in on them in slow motion, following their circle round, clearly not realising Lara's intentions to ditch Sam next at the hatch. It seemed to take forever to get there, but they finally reached the hatch. Lara used her left hand to squeeze the top of Sam's thigh. She hoped this would communicate to Sam that she should go down the hatch without Lara. It did. Sam suddenly hopped down the hatch and ran down the ladder, leaving Lara to deal with the thugs stood before her. Neither of them seemed to care about Sam's departure until the speaker crackled and the same booming voice emitted from it.

"Idiots! Get after her!"

The man with the afro suddenly leaped into action, rushing down through the hatch and after Sam. This was enough to distract Lara and she was thrown to the floor by the burly bald man. She tried to wrestle with him, grabbing his shoulders and pushing them away from her as he pinned her to the floor. Lara grunted as he held her throat down with his forearm and fumbled in his pocket with his free hand. She took hold of his wrist and twisted it, trying to free her throat from his grip, but her efforts were fruitless; his forearm was more than twice the thickness of her own.

"Let me go," Lara squeaked, her voice box restricted.

She saw the man draw up a needle and smile maliciously. Then she was unconscious.

Lara woke up to early morning sunlight streaming across her face from the skylight above her. Her vision was blurry and she felt like she was going to throw up. Her ears were ringing and her head felt dizzy, but she could remember the previous night's happenings with ease. And she had to find Sam.

Lara took a few moments to breathe softly in order to prevent her being sick before attempting to sit up. She managed, to heave herself into a sitting position as something light and soft hit her face and covered her eyes before swinging away again. Lara frowned and squinted, trying hard to focus on what had nudged her nose. As the imagery she could see merged into one, it was clear there was a note hanging down on a piece of string. It had red writing on it.

"Brilliant," Lara croaked, rubbing her head and snatching the note. "Fucking brilliant."

 _Worry not, my dear Lara. Sam is safe in our hands. Though you shouldn't have let her go like that. You should know she's very precious. My henchman left you under the window. I hope you didn't mind. We thought you would appreciate a view of the Sky. American sky is lovely on a morning, though I don't suppose it compares with a lovely British sunrise. Anyway, you should have known that getting Sam back wouldn't be that easy. It's going to take a lot more blood, sweat and tears than that and you'll be up against athletes. Still, your PE and parkour skills seem to be up to scratch. Keep up the good work and you'll do fine._


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer:_ _I do not own the characters of Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura, Conrad Roth or Lord Richard Croft._**

 ** _Author's_** ** _Note:_** ** _So here is Chapter 9! Let me know what you think of it through reviewing or PMing me! All feedback is welcome and appreciated (including constructive criticism) so please tell me what you're enjoying and what you're perhaps not enjoying so much. Thanks._**

"I don't do fucking _parkour_ ," Lara growled, glaring at the paper. "Chance would be a fine thing."

She screwed up the letter as she balled her fist before letting it drop to the floor. Lara knew even before she did it that this was a bad idea- she would need to study the note for clues in order to carry on with Cow Blood's ridiculous games. But she couldn't help it. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. It wasn't fair to her or Sam, especially as it hadn't been that long since The Island.

Lara put her head in her hands and breathed out slowly. Her head was a mess. Thoughts were colliding into each other, banging into the sides of her skull like a thousand wasps were trapped in there. She couldn't think straight and all of her thoughts were coming at once: her ruined gym routine; Sam; her counselling appointment; Sam; her life falling apart; Sam. Yesterday had been an adventure for Lara. It had been terrifying and tense and dangerous, yes, but it had also been exciting and the severity of the situation hadn't really hit her until now. It had been hard enough having Sam taken from her house, but to be teased into finding her only for her to be kidnapped again seemed unfair to Lara. It was like yesterday had just been a training exercise and now she had to face the real thing. She had had a decent amount of confidence and hope yesterday- it had seemed like things would eventually pull through just because they always had done for Lara. But now Lara realised that the world didn't always work like that. Things had gone right for her in the past because she had fought for it and this was no different. She had been relying too much upon faith and personal experience instead of treating the incident like an individual problem. In order to get Sam back and find out what the hell was going on, she was going to have to take this adventure one step at a time and throw herself into it with as much vigour and energy as she could muster.

Lara sighed as her head started to clear a little and she could direct her interior voice towards herself.

 _You're just as bad as Cow Blood,_ she told herself. _He treats this like a game and yesterday you did too. This is no game, Lara. This is serious shit. Everything you have is at stake here. Pull yourself together_.

She felt guilty for not taking the quest as serious as she perhaps could have. The adrenalin rush she had experienced the previous day was something Lara couldn't deny she had missed. She couldn't help being the adrenalin junkie she was born to be. But this time it was Sam who would take the fall if she didn't bring herself back to reality. Lara had lost people before. Losing her father had been a bad experience to say the least. Losing Roth had almost been worse- she had certainly known him longer than she had known her father and he had almost become a replacement dad to her. Of course her father always held a dear place in Lara's heart, but the unconditional love one feels for their parents had spread to Lara's feelings for Roth. She had loved him like a father. No matter what he did, no matter what happened, she would always love him anyway. Then she lost him. Both of these deaths had ripped Lara apart, but losing Sam would be different. The love Lara felt for Sam was a love that she enjoyed to feel- it was the kind of love that surfaces beneath barriers when you first meet a person, but breaks through when dedicate hard work and sacrifice to it. And when the barriers break, you fall. That kind of love requires work. Lara and Sam had taken the time and effort to put the work in for each other because they couldn't contemplate life without one another, even as friends. Lara could not afford to lose Sam. Although she had already lost two of her closest loved ones, she knew this one would cause her to hit breaking point. It would be like losing two pet dogs and then losing a pet lion. Losing unconditional love and then losing chosen love.

It was this thought that pushed Lara back into action. She pocketed the crumpled note that lay on the floor before standing up. She was still suffering from a light dizziness, but the hot wave of nausea in her stomach had started to die down and was being replaced by hunger. She had only eaten breakfast yesterday and thrown up twice- she probably had barely anything left in her. Although desperate to start studying the note straight away, Lara decided it would be better to eat first. She would need the energy if she was to get into another chase or fight.

 _Maybe I'll go to Dale Meadows,_ she thought. _The food will be good and Harvey might be able to help if I get stuck._

Lara made her way down through the hatch and into Sam's bedroom; her clothes had a sufficient amount of blood and sweat soaked into them and she needed to change. Sam was one or two sizes smaller than Lara, so she had to rifle through the wardrobe in order to find some old clothes from Sam's slightly fatter teenage years. Lara smiled as she found some clothes that she recognised from Sam's high school photos. They looked about Lara's size so she changed into them, leaving her own clothes on the bedroom floor. Now wearing a black jacket over a purple v-neck with some stylish white jeans, Lara pulled her boots back on and made for her car. She felt extremely uncomfortable in these clothes both physically and mentally- they were definitely anything but Lara's usual style. But she wanted to go straight out for breakfast instead of going home in the fear that there would be another note waiting for her. Besides, perhaps her unusual choice of clothing would help in throwing Cow Blood's minions off her scent.

As Lara got in her car she expected a note to be waiting for her, but she was surprised to find that the car was exactly how she had left it.

Lara arrived at Dale Meadows five minutes later and checked her car's clock to make sure the cafe would be open. It was 8:30am so Lara was definitely within the opening times. However, she had to make a double take as she noticed the day next to the time. It said Friday. She had gone to Sam's on Wednesday evening. She must have been unconscious for around 36 hours, rather than the 12 she had presumed.

"This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Lara murmured to herself as she slammed the driver's door closed and crossed the road to Dale Meadows.

"Good morning, Lara," Harvey smiled as soon as she entered. "You are very early today. Come for breakfast, have you?"

Lara nodded. "That's exactly what I'm doing. Croissant and coffee, please," she ordered as she reached the counter.

Harvey smiled at her before gesturing for her to go and sit down. She did so, in her usual place where she and Sam always sat. The cafe was the emptiest Lara had ever seen it, but she supposed it was because she had never been in there this early. There were only 3 other groups of people in the cafe: an elderly man and a middle-aged man, possibly father and son, eating blueberry muffins; two girls and a guy in their twenties who looked like students, eating pancakes and waffles; a young man sitting by himself, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. Lara recognised the first two, but the face of the latter rang no bells. She frowned. Despite not being on speaking terms with any of the cafe visitors, she usually recognised every customer based on Harvey's 'regulars only' rule. Already Lara's suspicion grew, but she didn't want to leave and draw attention to herself. She just stayed where she was and tapped her fingers on the table, pretending to wait patiently for her breakfast.

When Harvey delivered Lara's breakfast she was relieved he had brought it himself rather than sending a waiter.

"There you go, Lara. A beautiful breakfast for a beautiful young lady," smiled Harvey, placing the plate and mug down in front of her.

"Thanks Harvey," she murmured, her mind elsewhere.

As he turned to go, Lara caught his sleeve.

"Harvey, who's that man sat by himself over there?" she asked, nodding her head towards the man drinking coffee. By now he had closed the newspaper and appeared to be waiting for something... or someone.

"That is Mr Derek Hastings. He often comes here with his girlfriend, it is strange he is on his own." Harvey turned to Lara. "Much like you."

"Sam's busy with work," she murmured without thinking.

"Friday is her day off, no?"

"Oh yes, of course. It's Friday..." Lara cleared her throat, awkwardly. "But we archaeologists never stop."

Harvey frowned before laughing brightly and walking away. Lara breathed a sigh of relief. Now she knew she didn't have to worry about being watched by Derek, she set about eating her croissant quickly so she could move on to figuring out the note.

With just one read over, Lara knew it was going to be tricky. The only word with a capital letter was 'Sky'. That could mean anything. She tried to find some sort of riddle to lead her in the right direction, but she couldn't pick out anything that sounded too obscure. Lara thought a bit about the sentence about the American and British sky- it seemed quite random but it was the only other part of the note that had anything to do with the sky. Still, it led to nothing in Lara's mind. She was almost certain there was nothing in that sentence that would help her, but she had to be sure. She folded over the top of the note so it seemed to start at 'we thought you would appreciate a view of the sky', before beckoning Harvey over to help her. Folding the note wasn't ideal, especially if there was a clue in the first part, but Lara couldn't risk Harvey finding out any more the situation she and Sam was in. Besides, she was almost certain the clue would be in the second part of the note.

"Harvey, is there anything in this note that stands out to you?" Lara asked, holding it out to him.

"Is that written in blood?" he asked, frowning.

"What? No, of course not. It's a replica of a note that was found in an ancient vase during a dig I was at yesterday," Lara explained, thinking on her feet.

Harvey read over the note. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Why do you ask?"

"I don't think they had 'PE' in ancient times..."

"Exactly," Lara muttered, realising how stupid she had been. "We think it's a fake vase that somebody put there with this note, quite recently. You know, maybe it was used in a treasure hunt or something."

"I would agree. It's very strange. What a coincidence that it has Sam in there, too."

"It's a common name."

"Yes, you are right. I am sorry, Lara, but I don't think I can help you. I may have a small collection of antiques, but I can assure you I know nothing about them," Harvey told her, starting to laugh again.

"Thanks for your help," Lara muttered, sarcasm and bitter both in her voice. Thankfully Harvey had already started to walk away.

Lara drank up the rest of her coffee before starting to get up. But just as she did so, something clicked into place. Sky wasn't the only word with a capital letter; PE was too. She had obviously overlooked that because PE was always written in capital letters. Sky and PE. Could that be some sort of message? A riddle? A code?

Lara shook her head.

 _Think simple,_ she told herself. _It was simpler than that last time. It always is. Think literal._

So she did. Sky and PE. Sky and physical education. That was it! PE in the sky! Lara smiled to herself for working it out on her own... kind of. This must mean some kind of skydiving or paragliding thing. When she was unconscious, someone had gone to the trouble of positioning her with a view of the sky _and_ mentioning it in the note. He had also highlighted PE. Obviously the two linked under sports in the sky.

Lara ran out of the cafe and into her car, starting the engine before she had even put her seatbelt on. She knew exactly where to go and exactly what to do. She was going to go to the skydiving centre only 25 minutes away. She was going to skydive.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura, or Lord Richard Croft._**

When Lara reached 'Hop Up', the skydiving place she had set out for 25 minutes prior, there were two other cars in the car park. Lara wondered if she had come too early, but she got out of her car and approached the building anyway. The small building was a semicircle in shape and Lara was on the flat side where the main entrance was. The door was made of glass so she could see that there were lights on inside, suggesting the place was open. However to Lara's disappointment she found the door to be locked after giving it a vigorous tug. She decided not to give up there. If Cow Blood had wanted her here, surely there must be a note somewhere. Lara looked up and down the building's front. The whole building was a very light blue colour with the plastic 'Hop Up' signs nailed across the top. They were made with bumpy edges to give the appearance of clouds in a sky. Lara shielded her eyes and looked up at them, but there seemed to be nothing to suggest there would be a note up there. She sighed and checked she hadn't missed anything on the door before walking round to the circular side of the building. Most of this side had shutters covering it so Lara inspected the graffiti on them carefully; she stopped for a closer look whenever she saw any red spray paint. On reaching the peak of the circle, Lara heard someone whistling and a jangle of keys, followed by a loud grinding sound. She followed the circle round to find a tall man lifting the shutters. He was wearing dark brown cargo trousers and a tight, black v-neck. He had a bunch of keys dangling from his belt and a pencil behind his ear.

"Hi there," Lara said, approaching the man.

"Hey. Can I help you?" he said, turning to face Lara and smiling politely. She noticed a name tag hanging from his belt. Marcus.

"I hope so. I need to..." Lara suddenly realised how stupid she was going to sound. "I need to jump out of a plane. ASAP."

"Right," Marcus replied, opening another shutter. It revealed a parachute and a skydiving suit on a mannequin. Lara supposed that was the company's shop.

"So can you help me?" she asked him.

"Nope. I'm just a caretaker. But if you hang on a moment while I put up the shutters, I'll take you inside to the office. The woman who runs the place works in there, she can help you."

Lara nodded and walked round slowly with Marcus as he opened the place up. She managed to keep a sufficient amount of small talk going until they reached the front door. Marcus unlocked it and let her in, taking her through the shop, behind the front desk and through another door behind it. This door didn't need a key and Marcus walked in without knocking. Inside it was very pokey and untidy. There was a desk in the middle of the room, facing Lara's east. There were papers scattered across it as well as an old laptop sat in the middle, whirring loudly. Two six foot, wooden shelves stood to the left of the desk. They were also stacked untidily with books, papers and leaver-arch files. The only other pieces of furniture were two chairs, one sat either side of the desk. One of them was occupied.

"Hey, Anna. Someone here wants to skydive," Marcus said, scratching his elbow. Lara thought he looked rather uncomfortable.

"You know, we're not actually open yet," the manager said, not unpleasantly. She had a smile on her face as she took her glasses off to look up at Lara.

"I know," replied Marcus. "But she seems kinda desperate."

"Is this true? Are you desperate?" she asked Lara.

"Well... yes I suppose I am."

"Thanks Marcus," Anna said to dismiss him. She waited for him to leave before gesturing for Lara to sit.

"My name is Anna. I'm the manager here at Hop Up."

"I'm Lara. Listen, I hate to be rude but I am in rather a hurry so I'm going to cut to the chase. Is there any possibility that I'll be able to skydive today?" Lara asked as she sat down.

"Usually there wouldn't be. But you have come early so we'll see whether there's anything available this afternoon. There will be paperwork you need to fill in before then, should there be a free space," Anna replied.

"Of course," Lara nodded. "I'm willing to pay extra, money isn't a problem. I just need to skydive."

She hated to use her late father's money as a means of getting her way in the world, but sometimes it had to be done. It came in helpful to Lara in situations such as these and she didn't know what she would do without it. Her heritage made her a rich and powerful young woman, but she was a professional in modesty. She did what she could to earn and use her own money. Her father's money stayed in a separate bank account until times like these came along which, in Lara's defence, wasn't very often.

Anna smiled at Lara and cast her a look which suggested the money would be welcomed into the company, but instead of answering, she reached up onto a shelf behind her and took down a large, red, leather-bound book. She opened it up to where a bookmark stuck out, then turned another page and studied it.

"The only slot that hasn't been taken today is one at 2:30pm, but the man who usually does this jump is having the day off. That's why the slot hasn't been booked. I'm sorry, Lara, I don't think-"

"Wait, wait," Lara said, sitting forward in her chair. "Call him. I'll make him an offer and see how much he wants. If I pay him he might come in."

"I don't know," Anna murmured. "He's having the day off for his father's birthday."

"Please. Please try," Lara begged, looking at Anna with as much innocence as she could.

Anna sighed. "Okay. But I doubt it'll work."

"Thank you so much. You won't regret it," Lara smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.

Anna took her phone out from her bag and called the diver, explaining the situation with him. Before long, Anna was shaking her head at Lara, still listening through the phone.

"Let me speak to him!" Lara urged, putting her hand out to take the mobile.

"Quentin, Lara would like to speak with you," Anna murmured before passing the phone over.

"Quentin, is it? Listen, I know you're busy but this is pretty much an emergency. I can pay you extra, don't worry," Lara babbled.

"It's my father's birthday, I can't just leave him. Do you know how much a skydive with an instructor costs?" Quentin replied down the phone. Lara was expecting him to sound pissed off, but on the contrary he sound amused.

"Honestly, no," she muttered.

"It's $360. I really don't think you could pay extra," Quentin said smartly.

"$360?! What is that, like £230?! Wow okay..." Lara breathed. "I _can_ pay extra, actually. I can double it, triple it even. You name it, I'll pay it. I just need to do this today."

There was a pause. "Are you serious? Triple?"

"Deadly serious."

"Times it by 4.5 and you've got a deal," Quentin murmured. He took less persuading than Lara had expected.  
"100% deal. The jump is at 2:30, don't be late. Bring your dad along for the ride," Lara smiled, relaxing.

"Very funny. You got lucky. I'll seeya later."

The phone went dead so Lara handed it back over to Anna.

"Done. He's going to be here for the session. Now where's that paperwork you were talking about?"

Anna looked startled, but she gave the paperwork to Lara anyway. Lara had to fill out her personal details and health status, giggling at the irony of Sam being her next of kin. She denied her diagnosed anxiety or panic attacks, deciding it would be better not to highlight anything that could ruin her chances of getting to do the jump so soon. She answered 'N/A' to pretty much all of the health and wellbeing questions in order to speed up the process, despite the fact her jump wasn't for a few hours.

"Thank you, Miss... Croft," Anna said, taking the paperwork and checking the front for Lara's surname.

She raised her eyebrows as she read Lara's title.

"You're _Lady_ Lara Croft, I see. You must come from a very privileged background."

Lara thought back to her early childhood at Croft Manor and her peers making fun of her posh accent at school. Her background certainly was much different to those of the people she had grown up with.

"Privileged. I suppose you could call it that, yes," Lara murmured, blushing. She was starting to feel much more guilty and embarrassed about using the money.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed. We can't help our heritage. Besides, you don't strike me as someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth," Anna smiled as she looked over the papers.

Lara laughed. "Unfortunately I was, though I try my best to do what I can for myself. Yet at times like this I use my father's money. I'm not proud of it, but this is something I need to do. For a friend."

"Well everyone needs a helping hand from time to time. You're very lucky to have such easy access to yours."

Lara smiled, glad that Anna understood how she felt about this.

Anna put the papers down, taking her glasses off again to look at Lara.

"I must impress upon you the importance of these papers, Lady C-"

"Please, stick with Lara," Lara said, suddenly irritated with the change of address.

"Lara, I trust that you have filled them in correctly and honestly. I know you're desperate to go up there today, but if these papers are incorrect you could be put in a very dangerous situation," Anna explained, looking sternly at Lara.

"Oh believe me, I've been put through a few of those in my time."

Anna blinked.

"But don't worry, everything in there is legit," Lara lied with a reassuring smile.

"I should hope so," said Anna, sighing. "Now, you need to have a short training session just in the case there's an emergency when you're up in the air. There's a family coming to do a group dive for a girl's sweet sixteen. You can tag along with their training session at 1:30pm. It should only take around ten minutes. Until then, you don't have anything else to do. You can either stick around here or go home."

Lara thought about it. "I'll go home for a while. I have some work to do."

She got up and made her way to the door.

"Lara," Anna said, stopping her in her tracks.

"Yes?"

"If I may ask, why are you so desperate to go skydiving today?"

"I-" Lara started, looking at her boots. "It's a very long story. And I honestly don't think you would believe me if I told you."

"Perhaps not. You can tell me anyway."

Lara smiled and realised she didn't completely understand why she needed to skydive. She knew that's what she had to do, but she didn't exactly know why.

"I suppose I'm looking for some sort of message," Lara murmured, thinking out loud rather than telling Anna. "I think there's something I'm supposed to see from the sky. A sign or an image of some sort. "

Anna raised her eyebrows. "What gives you that idea?"

"Again, it's a long story. But my friend could be in danger and I need to do this for her as soon as possible."

"If your friend is in danger, why don't you just call the cops?"

"It's complicated. It has to be me that finds her and saves her," Lara said. She didn't want to give away too much, yet she felt she could trust Anna enough to let a little bit slip.

Anna suddenly looked serious. "You could be putting yourself in danger if there are people who are playing games with you. You shouldn't put yourself in danger just for a friend. She wouldn't want you to."

"She's my girlfriend. And I love her. I would do anything for her, dangerous or not. She knows that, so she'll be expecting me to find her. I honestly don't care that I could get hurt or injured or put in hospital or even arrested, because it would be worth it for her. If I stare death in the face and manage to avoid it, it won't matter to me. It won't be counted as a success unless Sam is saved. She means everything to me. And so does this skydive. I need it. I need her. Do you understand?"

Anna didn't answer.

Lara shrugged and left.

On leaving Anna's office, Lara had a quick but thorough scour round the shop area in case there was a note there for her. She hadn't intended to come across as rude or ungrateful in her short speech, she simply wanted to get across her point. Anna had asked and Lara had answered. It was as simple as that.

When Lara was sure there was no note left for her, she left the building and got into her car. She had been doubtful of the note anyway- she had never had to look for a note, they were always strategically placed where she would run into them. Obviously Cow Blood wanted to be sure that she would go through with the skydive. His clues were precious and he wasn't going to give them away carelessly. The game had moved onto a new level and Lara was going to have to work for these clues.

Lara still didn't want to go home, but she didn't see any point in waiting around for a few hours until her training session. She drove slowly, taking longer routes to pass a bit of time. When she did finally arrive home, she was momentarily surprised to find Sam's car by her house before she remembered it had been there since they went to Dale Meadows on Tuesday.

Inside her house, Lara found no more notes, a situation she felt rather ambivalent about. On the one hand, it meant Cow Blood and his gang hadn't invaded her space again, but on the other hand, she had no more clues about what she would be looking out for on the skydive. Still, Lara had the dive booked. All she had to do was turn up and jump. Easy.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimer:_ _I do not own the characters of Lady Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura._**

 _ **Author's Note:** **I must apologise for the delay of this chapter! I have been pretty busy and sustained an injury that compromised my typing ability! More importantly, my view count for this story hasn't shifted for the past few days even though I know people have viewed it, so that has resulted in a considerable lack of motivation! Knowing how many people are reading my story plays a big part in my writing, so hopefully it will start to work soon. Enjoy the 11th chapter!**_

At 1pm, Lara got in her car with a smoothie, her bank card and a positive mind. She had been pacing around her house when she had caught sight of herself in the mirror- she had got a kind of shock when she saw Sam's clothes upon herself. It was weird seeing herself dressed like that, but she didn't get changed. She liked it. It reminded her what all of this was for and more importantly, it gave her a fresh mindset so she was ready for her next task.

Lara arrived at Hop Up at exactly 1:25pm so she hurried inside for her training session. On entering the building, she noticed it looked rather different to how it had looked earlier on in the day; there were several other people there, browsing the shop and talking to the numerous employees that bustled around carrying various boxes and files. Lara approached the front desk where a stout, overweight man in his thirties lingered. He looked like he didn't quite know what to do with himself.

"Hello," he said quietly as Lara stopped in front of his desk.

Lara raised her eyebrows. "Hello... Peter," she read from his tag.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm here for the 1:30 training session. My jump is at 2:30," Lara said. "Where do I need to go for it?"

Peter didn't answer. He brought out a book that looked similar to the one in Anna's office, but smaller. He flicked through it and looked up and down the page before looking up at Lara helplessly.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, looking at him worriedly.

"I-" Peter started before pulling out a hanky and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Lady Croft!" exclaimed a voice from across the shop.

Lara rolled her eyes and turned to see Anna walking across.

"Lara is fine," Lara muttered through gritted teeth.

"Of course. Come right this way, you're just in time for your session."

Anna led Lara across the shop and through a separate door which opened into another small room, only slightly bigger than Anna's office. It had mirrors across one wall like a dance studio and a short, athletic woman stood in front of them. There was a family of three already in there- a large, rather worn-out looking man with his tall, slender wife and their excited looking daughter. They all turned when Lara entered.

"Ah! A full house," exclaimed the woman at the front.

Lara smiled.

"You must be..." The woman checked her papers. "Lady Croft. Please join us, we're just about to start."

"Please, call me Lara," Lara muttered, sighing to herself.

The woman smiled and turned to the group as Anna left.

"My name is Katrina but you can call me Kat. We're going to go through a few safety procedures so that you're all safe up there, okay?"

Lara rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. She didn't like Kat. She was obnoxious. Still, Lara listened to what she had to say anyway because she didn't like the thought of being that high up with no safety skills to fall back on.

Fortunately, the session went quicker than Lara had expected it would, taking only 15 minutes in total. There were a couple more papers to sign before they could leave so Lara let the family go first as they were jumping before her. Once they had signed the papers, they hurried out of the room excitedly so Lara stepped up to sign her forms.

"Hey," Kat said to her, smiling. Her voice seemed calmer now, less fake.

"Hi," Lara murmured, taking the paper and skimming over the writing.

"So you're here alone?" she asked Lara, looking her in the eye and still smiling.

 _Oh my God, she's fucking flirting with me,_ Lara thought as she gave back the forms.

"Yes. I'm here by myself."

"Really? A pretty girl like you?"

"Really. And when I'm finished, I'm going to my boyfriend's house," Lara said firmly.

She made her way to the door but Kat got there first.

"No way. You're not telling me you have a boyfriend," Kat smiled.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Oh please. My gaydar practically exploded when you walked in here."

Lara blushed but laughed in spite of herself.

"What's your girlfriend called?" Kat asked, leaning against the door.

"Who said I have a girlfriend?"

"My gaydar did. So who is she?"

"She's called Sam," Lara said shrugging like it was nothing. "Why are you so interested?"

"I'm interested in you."

"Then it's a shame I'm taken," Lara said, not meaning it at all. "Excuse me."

Kat moved to let her out.

"This isn't the last you've seen of me, Lara."

Lara just shook her head and walked away. She browsed aimlessly around the shop until 2 o'clock rolled round and she saw a familiar face enter the building. It was the man that she had seen in Dale Meadows that morning- not the lone man, but the one that had been sat with an elderly man. Lara noticed his worried frown as he scurried over to the front desk and dumped two big skydiving packs down. Then she twigged. He was the man she had bribed to come in to work. She had been right that morning- he was having breakfast with his father.

"Quentin," Lara said blankly, approaching the man from the rear.

"Oh. You must be Lara," he murmured, turning to see her.

"You decided not to bring your father along after all?"

"He's waiting in the car. I told him this would be quick," Quentin replied, looking outside towards his car.

"I see. But the jump isn't for another thirty minutes."

"Don't worry, he'll be none the wiser."

Lara frowned disapprovingly but shook off the thought.

"Hey," murmured Quentin, returning the frown. "Don't I know you already from somewhere?"

"Of a sort, yes," smiled Lara. "I'm also one of the lucky few who attends Dale Meadows on a regular basis."

"Oh yeah, of course! I completely recognise you now. You're usually in a booth with the pretty Japanese girl, right? That's you, right?"

"That's me," Lara grinned. She was happy that she wasn't the only one to appreciate Sam's attractiveness.

They started to talk about Dale Meadows, then about Sam, then about Quentin's father, then finally about the skydive.

"We should start heading over," Quentin told Lara as he checked is watch.

So they did. Quentin led Lara outside where they boarded a tiny shuttle van with "Hop Up" printed on the side, along with the company phone number and the picture of an aircraft.

"That's what we're gonna be riding in," Quentin said, pointing the aircraft out to Lara.

She smiled politely.

The van took only five minutes, if that, to get them to the short runway that would allow them to leave the ground. It was surrounded by grass and had an overpowering garage at the end where all of the planes were stored. Outside the garage stood a couple of pilots, drinking from mugs and smoking cigarettes, whom Quentin seemed rather familiar with.

"Tina, Victor. This is Lara. Lara, Victor will be our pilot for today."

They exchanged 'hello's and 'nice to meet you's before Victor left his mug and cigarettes to take Lara and Quentin to the plane they would be taking.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Victor grinned, standing with his hands on his hips and admiring his blue plane. He was wearing blue overalls to match- Lara thought he looked much more like an engineer than a pilot- and was very pleased when Quentin announced that this plane was his favourite. Lara was sure he said that about every plane he boarded.

"Thanks for doing this, Victor," Quentin added as they stepped inside the plane. "I know this jump wasn't supposed to be happening today so you didn't necessarily have to take us up."

Victor didn't say anything.

"Oh," Quentin sighed. "Lara bribed you too?"

"No!" protested Lara.

At the same time, Victor laughed.

"Bribe? I don't need no bribe! I was gonna take my darling up in the air anyway, she needs the flights or she'll get rusty. And anyways... I don't have nothing else to be doing."

Victor's grey eyes sparkled and his rose-tinted cheeks reflected the sunlight perfectly as he smiled at Lara. Lara smiled back. Victor was nice. He had probably been good-looking, too, in his prime. Now his auburn hair was thinning, his muscles were sagging and he had a substantial lack of teeth. Lara sort of felt sorry for the man.

Quentin gave Lara a chance to get changed into the skydiving kit she was hiring before he put on her harness and strapped himself to her.

"You won't have to do anything, leave all the work to me. When we're up there you can just relax, okay?"

"I'll try," sighed Lara.

After a final check that everyone was ready, Victor started up the aircraft and slowly rolled his way around to the beginning of the runway. Tina smiled up at him and waved as they set off away from her. The plane rumbled heavily as it raced down the runway, giving Lara a very bad case of butterflies in her stomach. She was glad that she was strapped to Quentin- she felt safe under his control and the warmth of his body against her back gave her a decent sense of security. Not that she would need it when she was thousands of feet above the ground.

The aircraft finally lifted and the rumbling stopped, letting Lara's stomach settle slightly. She tried to lean over to look out through the window, but she didn't want to pull on Quentin too much. She managed to get a quick glimpse of Tina's bright red overalls before they turned away and gained height. Then all Lara could see was sky.

 _Okay Lara, you need to be ready,_ she told herself. _As soon as you're out there, you need to start looking for some kind of message. It could be on top of buildings, written in the trees, painted on banners, billboards, anything. Just keep your eyes peeled and make the most of the time. It will be over before you know it._

As the plane stopped inclining and started to level out, Lara sighed deeply to try to regulate her breathing. She was scared. She was scared of jumping out of the plane, but she was also scared of the message she might find. Lara didn't know where Sam was, or even if she was still alive. Cow Blood had her wrapped around his little finger and she didn't like it one bit, yet she had to do this for Sam. Just for Sam.

"Looks like we're in a good position!" Quentin shouted over the noisy aircraft engines.

The whirring of the engines suddenly got louder and Lara looked to her left to see the door opening. Quentin edged them closer to the gap.

"Are you ready?" he yelled as the door fully opened.

"I'm ready!" Lara yelled back.

Then suddenly she was falling. She could no longer feel Quentin's weight behind her but a small twist of her head told her that he was still there, on top of her back. Lara let her arms and legs fall freely as they spread out into a starfish pose. It was a lot more fun than she had expected it to be, but she suddenly remembered why she was here in the first place and started to look around desperately for a clue.

Lara could see the landscape of the earth below her, but none of it was clear. She wasn't close enough to the ground yet, but she kept telling herself to keep an eye out for something red. Anything. Cow Blood was consistent. This note would be in red, surely.

They were plummeting through the sky and every second gave Lara another detail about what she could see. Objects were becoming perceivable: buildings and trees separated from one another; concrete and grass became distinguishable; green became green and red became red.

Lara looked around desperately. Nothing stood out, but she had to keep looking. She glanced over her whole layout repeatedly before inspecting each section bit by bit. This became easier for her when Quentin put up the parachute. Although they were still going fast, it felt like a glide compared to the freefall Lara had just experienced. It gave her more time to study the area, which she did very intently. She checked on the top of buildings and looked for manmade patterns in the greenery, but nothing looked out of place. She looked out for signs or symbols that could have been put together on large flags, but every time a flag pole came into view, it bore only stars and stripes.

They were fast approaching the ground and Lara was rapidly losing her advantaged birds-eye view. She scanned everything that was within her eyesight, quickly but very carefully. Then she caught a glimpse of something red.

 _This must be it,_ she thought excitedly. _Finally! This must be the next clue!_


	12. Chapter 12

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura._**

 ** _Author's Note: This took me so long to write yet it's a rather poor chapter. It's more or less here to set the grounds for the next chapter which should be much more action-packed and exciting. As always, feedback is still welcome! Thanks for reading!_**

It was Tina's bloody overalls. That was the glimpse of red Lara had seen before they hit the ground. She was unprepared and ended up falling on her front after her legs had curled up beneath her. She grunted loudly as she was winded by Quentin's weight landing on top of her. The grass pressed into Lara's left cheek as she felt Quentin undoing the straps in order to free himself from her.

"Lara. Lara, are you okay?" he asked, rising up from her and crouching by her side.

"I'm fine. Sorry about that," Lara groaned, pushing herself up. She was glad to be free of the pressure on her back.

"I'm sorry I landed on you. Did you forget the landing procedure?"

"No, I was just sort of... distracted," Lara admitted as they both stood up.

 _There was no clue. No note, no sign, nothing,_ Lara thought as this just suddenly hit her. _All of that was for nothing. So why did he send me here?_

"Are you ready to go back inside and sort out the payment?" Quentin asked once he had gathered up the kit.

"Of course."

Lara was disheartened. She had been so sure a skydive was all she had to do to get one step closer to figuring out what the bloody hell was going on here. But it hadn't worked. Like she had told herself before: Cow Blood made these messages quite clear to Lara providing she was in the right place. If there was no message, then it was Lara who had gotten it wrong. She must have interpreted the previous note incorrectly. A skydive hadn't been the answer, so Lara was back to square one with that note. She was left yet again with the task of figuring out the meaning behind 'Sky PE'.

"How much do I owe you?" asked Lara once they were inside and she was pushing her card into the machine.

"That'll be $1620," Quentin smiled. "Pin number please."

Lara rolled her eyes and punched in her pin before removing her card. She shook hands with Quentin.

"Thanks for coming out today," she said quietly. She wanted to smile, but somehow she couldn't. All hope and happiness seemed to have drained out of her.

"You're welcome. I'm sure we'll see each other again some time."

"No doubt in Dale Meadows," agreed Lara.

Lara let Quentin drive away before she started to leave the building. She was held back by someone calling her name.

"Lara!" yelled Kat, running after her.

"I'm really not in the mood," Lara murmured, turning to face her.

Their faces were very close to each other and Lara wanted it to be like this. She wanted to seem intimidating and threatening to Kat. To achieve this, she tensed her shoulders and stood up tall, looking down at Kat menacingly.

"Not in the mood for what? I didn't do anything," Kat laughed, her sickly smile overpowering Lara's surly mask.

"I don't care. Whatever it is, I don't have time for it. I have things to do."

"What rattled your cage? Your skydive didn't go too well?"

"It went fine. But like I said, I have things to do. Good afternoon."

Lara turned to go but Kat grabbed her hand and forced her into a kiss. Lara shoved her off violently. Kat scowled, her mouth open as though she was both disgusted and surprised at Lara's rejection.

"I told you to leave me alone. I have a girlfriend and quite frankly I don't like you. I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, but your obnoxious charm isn't working on me. Goodbye," Lara growled.

She shot another glare at Kat before marching out to her car. She got in and rested her head on the steering wheel.

 _What is that girl's_ problem _? Doesn't she understand that not everyone is going to like her?_ Lara shook her head to try and clear it. _Just concentrate on the message. You need to keep going. Work out what it means and we'll be one step closer._

Lara was distracted during her drive home. Her mind was buzzing. She had just jumped out of a plane with the 'positive knowledge' that she would land with an answer. Yet now she had nothing. She had been pushed back again. It was like one of those annoying board games where you had to jump back three spaces if you landed on a certain square.

Back in the safety of her own home, Lara was able to study her note further and think about it more clearly.

 _Sky... PE... sports in the sky..._

"Sports in the sky," Lara murmured to herself. "Why does that ring a bell?"

Lara thought for a while before deciding it only rang a bell from the last time she worked it out. She needed a break; it would be easier to think fresh thoughts if she cleaned her brain out a little. In order to achieve this, she switched on the TV. This was something she did relatively rarely, much preferring to focus on her physical state.

The TV turned on to the channel that Lara had last been on. The current showing was something Lara wasn't interested in so she flicked the TV guide on. As she scrolled through, there were no shows that caught her eye until she saw the channel at the bottom.

"Oh my god," Lara muttered. "Sky Sports. Sky and PE, it must be the channel Sky Sports."

Lara hurriedly scrolled down to it. The current showing was a skiing competition with a name of no significance to herself nor to Sam, but she selected it anyway. Perhaps there would be something on the show for her to see. As she put the programme on, a competitor was racing the slalom.

Lara leaned forward and looked hard at the screen, her eyes narrowing to focus on it. Nothing stood out to her. As the camera switched to a helicopter view, she made sure there was no pattern in the snow that would be useful to her. She checked the names of all the skiers and the commentators, none of which brought any interest to her. Lara searched for traces of red that may lead her to a clue, but still there was nothing. Sighing, Lara brought up the TV guide again and looked through the rest of the showings on that day. She even checked the shows before, just in case she had missed something. None of the programmes meant anything to her.

"But surely this must be it. It makes perfect sense," Lara whispered to herself, putting the skiing back on and placing down the remote. "Then again, so did skydiving."

She leaned back on the sofa and decided she should keep watching whilst she tried to come up with something else. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out. But it wasn't long before she fell asleep.

"Oh shit," Lara murmured, as she woke up a couple of hours later. "How did that happen?"

Lara looked at her watch when she realised she was hungry again. It had passed 5:30 and she hadn't eaten solid food since breakfast. After finding the cupboards empty of nutritional goods, she decided to head over to Dale Meadows again. Perhaps Harvey could offer more help regarding the note issue.

Lara grabbed her purse before heading out, deciding to walk there like she and Sam usually did. She was glad of the physical exercise and was able to get to the cafe much quicker without Sam there conversing with her. This was something she wasn't happy about.

As Lara entered the cafe, she immediately knew something was wrong. There was no excited exclamation from Harvey as the bell at the top of the door rang, announcing her entering. Lara frowned and glanced across to his counter: Harvey was there with a serious expression pasted across his face. A man was talking to him- or rather growling at him- with a finger pointed to Harvey's chest. He looked like he was in a rage- his lips were moist and his eyes seemed to emit flames as he spoke. Harvey was nodding softly, his eyebrows knitted together in a worried frown. Lara managed to pass without being noticed; she didn't want to get in the middle of this.

As she passed by, Lara managed to hear a snippet of the conversation.

"... it was obvious you gave her too much! If you hadn't, this wouldn't have happened. We're on a time schedule. If it does happen again, you know wh..."

As well as this, on closer inspection, the man ranting at Harvey seemed vaguely familiar to Lara. She frowned as she made her way to her seat. She had definitely seen him somewhere recently, but she couldn't quite place him. Lara leaned out of her booth to take another look, but as she did so, she caught Harvey's eye. He suddenly spoke to the man, apparently cutting him off. The man spared a momentary glance at Lara before calmly walking out of the cafe. Lara leaned back into her booth. Had that conversation been about her?

"Good evening, Lara," Harvey grinned, attempting to be his usual chirpy self as he approached Lara.

"Harvey, is everything okay? That man seemed to be giving you a hard time," Lara commented, deciding they should have it out straight away.

"Ah it was nothing. There was a problem with the meat orders," Harvey told her without faltering.

"I see. I'll take my usual panini and a non-alcoholic elderflower please," Lara said, slightly confused.

Harvey had lied to her. That conversation hadn't had anything to do with meat orders at all. It must have been about her. Otherwise, why would Harvey feel the need to lie to her?

She watched him as he made his way back to the counter. He looked stressed. Great. Another thing for Lara to worry about.

She turned her attention back to the note.

 _You just need to try something with the words that you haven't tried before,_ Lara told herself.

It took her a while to work out what that could be, but then she realised she hadn't yet merged the words.

 _Sky and PE... Skype._

"Oh bloody hell, it's Skype," Lara gasped. "Skype. Could it really be that simple?"

She had to get home and find out. When Harvey brought her meal, she wolfed it down before running out of the cafe and charging back to her house. She must have looked weird, but she honestly didn't care. This had to be it. Surely.

Lara into the living room and pulled open her laptop. She had one new Skype notification. She opened it up.

 _Hi, LaraCroft131, I would like to add you as a contact._


	13. Chapter 13

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft, Samantha Nishimura, or Richard Croft._**

 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _Thanks for being patient, everyone! Now I'm back at school there will probably only be 2 chapters per week (one on Wednesday evening and one at the weekend, BST). If I do end up having a lot of time on my hands on weekends, I might be able to upload one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Thanks for sticking with the story and I apologise for the lack of updates. Please read and review and most importantly, enjoy!_**

The contact request was from a person with no name, only initials: SM. Yet again this meant nothing to Lara, but none of it ever did. That wasn't her main concern right now, so she put it to the back of her mind. She had to see what all of this was about. Lara confirmed the contact request and SM was online only moments later.

 _SM: Hello Miss Croft. Care for a video call?_

 _Lara Croft: My pleasure._

Lara had butterflies in her stomach. She was apprehensive about calling SM to say the least, but she was reminded that this wasn't about her or her feelings. It was about playing the game by the rules so that's exactly what she did; when the video call popped up moments later, she answered without hesitation.

As she answered, the screen displayed a small picture of Lara in front of a large blue screen with a loading sign whirring round in the middle. Lara tapped her fingers anxiously, silently urging the screen to load. This seemed to pay off as, in a matter of seconds, a man with apparently no face appeared in place of the blue screen. It shocked Lara momentarily, but she soon realised the man was wearing a white mask that clung to his skin. There were no eyeholes, but Lara assumed he could see through the mask.

"Hello Miss Croft. Can I call you Lara? Is Lara okay?" the man asked, his lips moving up and down behind the mask.

Lara recognised the voice straight away. It was the same booming voice she had heard in Sam's loft. Lara suddenly realised that this voice was the result of a voice changer. Cow Blood wanted to stay anonymous.

"What do you want? Where's Sam?" she asked, not bothering to answer his pointless question.

Lara could see his smile beneath his mask.

"Why, she's right here," he smiled. He leaned to his right and gestured behind him with his left hand. Sam came into focus. She was sat on a wooden chair, similar to the one in the loft. The room was also similar, but there seemed to be more objects around. Lara could just make out a table to the right hand side that seemed to have shapes emerging from the top. She guessed that they were ornaments, but she couldn't make out any details. An open book sat by Sam's feet and she was looking down at it nervously. Her lips were moving slightly and silently, informing Lara that Sam was reading, and perhaps reciting, the book. To Sam's right, a man wearing a black balaclava was pointing a handgun at her head.

"Sam!" Lara exclaimed.

Sam suddenly looked up from the book. Her eyes lit up hungrily when she saw Lara.

"Larayouhavetogetmeoutofhere!" Sam yelled, desperately. It all came out as one linear word and she leaned forward to get a better view of Lara. The man with the gun violently pushed her back by her collarbone.

"Get your filthy hands off her!" Lara screamed, slamming her hands down on the table in front of her.

Cow blood moved forward again so Lara could no longer see Sam. He was still smiling.

"You sick bastard. Give this up now or I'm calling the police like I should've done a long time ago," Lara warned, brandishing her phone like it was a weapon. She could hear Sam's sobs from behind Cow Blood.

"Do that and she dies. It makes no difference to me," he replied, his deep voice making her speakers crackle.

Lara said nothing.

"You see," he went on, "at the end of this game, Sam is going to die anyway. I will accept my punishment and go to prison, unless you have other plans."

"And what if she doesn't die? What if I play the game and I get there first?" Lara asked sourly.

"Hm... Good question." He thought for a moment. "In that very rare case, I shall hand myself over to the police. That will be your winning. So if I were you, I wouldn't call the police. Like I said before, it wouldn't make any difference to me. I would go to prison either way. It would be your loss."

Lara scowled. "This is absurd. What is the point in any of this if you're just going to be arrested, regardless of the outcome?"

Cow Blood barked a laugh. "Now now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

Lara snarled quietly to herself. He was a piece of work.

"Right. Well what do you want me to do now? I'm here to save Sam. Just tell me what I have to do next," Lara ordered, folding her arms angrily.

"That would be too easy, Lara, you know that. I will, however, give you a few hints. Unless you're too proud for that and you'd rather work it out by yourself."

"I'm not proud at all. Give me the hints."

"You didn't seem to be short of pride when you were snogging Sam in her car outside Dale Meadows," Cow Blood smirked.

"Give me the hints," Lara repeated through gritted teeth.

"Patience, young Croft. Patience is a virtue, after all. Didn't your father ever teach you that?"

"Don't talk about my father. You're trying to wind me up but it's not going to work. You might as well just give it up."

Lara was lying. The mention of her father had hit a nerve, but she knew she couldn't show it. Still, she suspected that Cow Blood would be able to see through her mask as well as he could see through his own.

"Very well. I'll get straight to the point," he murmured, turning so Lara and Sam could see each other once again. "Samantha. This is your cue."

Lara looked intently at Sam. Cow Blood smoothly pulled the camera- it was presumably on a laptop- towards Sam. It seemed to be on a desk or table that had wheels on the bottom of it. He pulled it until Lara was close enough to see detail on Sam's face, but far away enough to see the entirety of her body.

Sam was shaking but not crying. She nodded down at the book and looked at Lara.

"It stinks, Lara," she murmured.

Lara followed her nod and noticed that the book had bright red writing in it. It looked wet and fresh. Fresh from a cow.

"Read the damn book," ordered the man next to her, jabbing her arm with the handgun. He was American.

Lara gasped but said nothing- she knew not to say anything that could get Sam hurt like last time.

Sam swallowed. "I hope you enjoyed your skydive-"

Lara cut Sam off with another, much louder gasp.

"How did you know about that?" Lara asked, her eyebrows raised and staring around, even though Cow Blood was no longer on the screen.

"Shut up and let the girl talk," the gunman muttered, glaring at the camera.

Lara did as she was told.

"I hope you enjoyed your skydive I watched it with great pleasure and amusement, Lara," Sam continued.

Lara nearly cracked from the sadness in Sam's voice as she said 'Lara'.

"Unfortunately you were wrong. And then you were wrong a second time. But you finally got the answer. You always do in the end. This time though, your message is given verbally. There's no capitalisation or underlining for you. You have to work it out all by yourself. I think that's the best part, personally. It's the best part of the game. Some people like to play games with instructions or walkthroughs- not me. Not you either, apparently. You're young, but you know yourself. You know who you are and you know who you love. You know how to play the game but do you know how to solve the puzzles? Can you handle that?"

Lara looked down disappointed, thinking that was the end of the message because Sam had stopped. However, she looked up and noticed Sam was looking at the camera desperately.

"What? What is it?" Lara mouthed, without speaking.

"Record," Sam whispered before getting a hard punch to the collarbone.

"Read the book! Don't say anything else, this is your final warning!" the gunman yelled, giving Sam a shake and poking her with the gun.

"What? What did you say?" Lara said, pretending she hadn't heard. At the same time, she pulled out her phone and started to record the call.

The gunman relaxed. "You're lucky she didn't hear you. If she had, the call would've ended and you would've kissed goodbye to your precious Lara ever finding you. And that's what will happen if you say anything like that again, do you hear me? The boss said you're not to give anything away. So don't."

Lara sighed. "Just read, Sam."

Sam looked down and followed Lara's instruction. "There's a game for everyone in this world, but some may be in other worlds entirely. My games may be different to yours, but I will wait for you. I will stay with my victim until you reach my level. We will stay in my game, in my place, on my level. This is my home. Enter if you please."

Sam looked up at Lara and nodded to tell her that was the end of the message.

"I love you," Lara said before it was too late.

"I love you t-"

The call ended, cutting Sam off mid-sentence. Lara shouted a loud, sharp groan and slammed the laptop lid. That was the end of it. That was all she had to go on. More importantly, her time speaking to Sam had been very limited. Thinking about it, the message could have included several clues, but Lara hadn't listened very well- she had been too busy listening to Sam's voice. She was thankful for the recording heads up.

Lara stopped the recording and laid back on the sofa. It looked like she was in for another rough night.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam.**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _ **So as some of you have noticed, I've already broken my promise of updating twice a week so I'm sorry about that! I'm finally at the point where I've managed to build the story up a little so we can have a bulky action chapter next time (which may take longer to write). Thank you for being patient and I do hope you enjoy reading. As always, all feedback is appreciated.**_

Lara listened to the recording repeatedly until she knew it almost off by heart. It was a relief hearing Sam's voice, knowing she was still alive and safe (to a certain extent). Sam had a soothing voice; her delicate American accent flowed melodiously compared to Lara's choppy British growl. It made Lara envious, but at the same time grateful that she could admire the voice from the perspective of another person: Sam wasn't keen on the sound of her own voice. Though the fear in Sam's voice in this particular recording was obvious, the subtle changes in pitch and volume that made it so soft on the ear could still be heard if one knew what he/she was listening for. And Lara certainly did know. She heard Sam's voice just as she always did: tender and sensitive. It broke Lara's heart to hear how it shook with trepidation, yet it was still music of the same quality as usual.

It took a while, but Lara eventually managed to drag her attention away from Sam's voice and towards the words it was producing.

 _The message revolves around games,_ Lara told herself. _But that isn't much to go on because it always bloody does. It must be something to do with levels. He mentions that a lot._

Lara listened to it a couple more times to see if Sam had put emphasis on any of the words, but there was nothing that Lara could pick out. She supposed that Sam had been less willing to drop any further hints following the blow to the chest and the threat she had received.

"'I will stay with my victim until you reach my level'," Lara repeated after Sam. "He's going to wait with Sam until I find her."

Lara smiled momentarily, proud of herself for working out this rather obvious clue.

"'In my game, in my place, on my level. This is my home. Enter if you please.' They must be somewhere that's close to Cow Blood. It must be something that represents him," Lara deduced, frowning lightly.

She was scared, but not too anxious. For the moment, her mind was occupied with the current puzzle and she hoped it would stay that way. Worrying did nothing for her own wellbeing and it certainly wouldn't help her find Sam.

Lara thought back to everything she knew about Cow Blood. Where would he live? Would it be a normal house or somewhere else? Could it be close to Lara or Sam's house?

No matter how much she thought about it, nothing could answer her questions. Instead, she decided to go to Sam's house in case that was what Cow Blood meant by 'home'.

It was pretty cool outside by now, so Lara pulled her jacket round herself tightly and took her car to Sam's house. She was unarmed, but she knew that Sam had a gun tucked under her sofa cushion. Besides this, Lara doubted she wouldn't find the house empty anyway.

As suspected, the house was in silence and without movement. Lara had a careful and thorough look both upstairs and downstairs, but it was obvious that nobody had been here since her last visit.

Lara took this opportunity to sit down and think. She had deciphered the message to death, so there certainly wasn't anything else in there that could mean anything to her. She thought back to the Skype call as she had a sudden realisation.

 _I remember something,_ Lara frowned, starting to pace. _Something Sam said... I remember it stuck out to me, it sounded weird, but I couldn't say anything in front of the guard. Oh come on Lara, think. What was it?_

Lara paced up and down hastily, as though the speed of her walking would help her get to the answer quicker.

"Think Lara, for goodness' sake. This is important," she murmured, clunking on the floorboards. "It was something that sounded strange, unrealistic."

She thought back to everything that happened in the call: Cow Blood's voice; the gunman; the ornaments; Sam; Sam's chair; the book-

That was it. The book!

Lara thought back and heard Sam's voice say, "It stinks, Lara."

Lara had thought it was a strange thing to say: there was only a few sentences written in blood, surely not enough to emit such a strong smell up to Sam's nose. Admittedly, the blood was fresh- Lara remembered how it gleamed at her when she looked at it- but such a small amount couldn't possibly be the cause of a 'stink'. As soon as Sam had made this remark, Lara had automatically assumed she was referring to the blood on the paper. It was only moments later that she started to consider the possibility that Sam was referring to the air.

"Wait," Lara said to herself, physically stopping. "Sam nodded down at the book when she told you it stinks. She must have been talking about the blood."

This made Lara pause for a moment, but she soon took off once again. This time though, she didn't pace back and forth. She left the house.

She had figured it out:

Sam had been referring to blood, but not the blood on the paper. She had very cleverly nodded at the blood in order to tell Lara that that was the smell, but it was coming from a much bigger source: the blood was all around them. The fact that the writing was fresh suggests that it had only just been put there, so it must have been written moments before the call and from a nearby source. Cow Blood had written that they were in his 'home'. Lara took this to meant they were in a place that acted as a symbol of Cow Blood, something special that specifically fit his personality. Combining these things together, Lara deduced that they must be in the place that supplies Cow Blood's cow blood. The problem? She didn't actually know where that was.

Driving quickly, Lara found herself on the main road that led to a series of small shops and marketplaces. She came here only on rare occasions, as she did most of her shopping at supermarkets and even then, Sam often combined their shopping lists and bought Lara's food for her. However, Lara continued her journey to the shops, slowing down as she reached a chain of branched roads. She leaned over her steering wheel each time she approached one, trying to get a decent view of the road to see if she had found the correct one. On approaching the fourth branch, she peered round the corner and recognised the set of tables with tarpaulin roofs that sat at the end of the road. Lara drove down this road and kept her eyes to the left, looking out for the butcher's that she knew was situated here. She jerked the car to a halt when she saw it and jumped out, looking through the window. The lights were on and she could hear a voice, but the sign on the door said closed. Lara got closer to the entrance and examined the inside of the shop. There was a man in uniform- a white 'chef' suit and a brown and cream apron- mopping the floor in a dancing style whilst singing to Michael Bublé. It was audible from outside. Lara knocked on the glass sharply so that the butcher would be able to hear her over the music. He jumped, startled, before pottering over to the CD player and pressing pause. He then put down his mop and opened the door to Lara.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we're closed," he smiled, pointing to the sign.

"I know, I just need to ask you a question," Lara said, smiling reassuringly. "Do you, by any chance, sell or supply animal blood? Cow blood, to be specific."

The butcher frowned. "I'm afraid not. Francis does," he nodded, pointing to the set of tables and tarpaulins.

Lara's blank expression informed him that she hadn't the faintest idea who Francis was.

"He comes here on market days and sells all kinds of voodoo stuff. You know like tarot cards, potion ingredients, those kinda things. But if it's a big amount that you need, I wouldn't bother going to Francis. He only sells blood in small pots. He says it's the 'correct portion for a potion'," the butcher explained, his left hand flying around in empty gestures.

"I see," Lara remarked, taking it all in. "Well actually, I am in need of a large amount. I was thinking maybe a permanent shop or company could supply it to me."

The butcher 'humf'ed and looked up to the sky like he was thinking hard.

"I'm not sure about a company, but I know that the slaughterhouse sells it. After killing that many cows every day, they always have an excess of the blood so they're usually willing to _give_ that stuff away. I buy my meat off them, you see, and they're always trying to persuade me to take some. I refuse point blank, though. Seeing a tub of blood on the counter seems to put customers off," the butcher laughed, jovially.

"Understandably," Lara nodded, smiling back impatiently. "So where is the slaughterhouse, exactly?"

"Oh they will send you some blood if you call them up. There's no need for you to go there."

"Actually I was rather hoping you'd know an address. I prefer to do my business face to face," Lara pushed on.

"It's about 30 miles from here, quite a long drive. If you head out Northbound on the highway, it's signposted pretty much all of the way."

"Thank you. You've been really helpful," Lara smiled, already walking back down the pavement to her car.

"Alrighty then, seeya soon," the butcher smiled, waving.

Lara drove back to the main road with only one thing on her mind: getting to that slaughterhouse. She had hoped that the butcher's would have been the right place to start with, but she knew it was unlikely. In fact, she would have been rather disturbed if a local butcher's sold tubs of cow blood on a daily basis.

After a good 10 minutes, Lara was on the motorway, heading North just like the kind guy had told her to. She had only been driving on there for 15 minutes before she started to worry about the lack of signs. However, after another five minutes, she came across a large overhead structure that bore a number of different signs. Lara's eyes scanned over them, searching for her destination. Finally she noticed it on a large sign at the very top of the structure: Copperthorne Slaughterhouse, 7 miles.

Lara almost laughed. _Why the hell would anyone ever signpost a slaughter house?_

Within the next ten minutes, Lara had arrived at her intended destination: a menacing, stocky, grey building with 'COPPERTHORNE SLAUGHTERHOUSE' printed in huge white letters across the side. It was heavily guarded with black gates and fencing, but Lara could already see that there was an entrance further down the road that would take her to the rear of the building, so she carried on towards it. After careering round the corner- the road had appeared much quicker than Lara had expected- there was a good view of the back of the building. Here there was little to no security and Lara suspected that this was a retired part of the slaughter house. Her suspicions were confirmed as she found herself pulling up next to a small chiselled rock that told the history of the place. Behind the rock stood a door. It was ajar and there were a few tiny splashes of blood leading inside. Lara was in the right place.


	15. Chapter 15

**_Disclaimer:_ _I do not own the characters of Sam Nishimura, Lara Croft and Conrad Roth._**

 ** _Author's Note: This is a pretty chunky chapter which is about 90% description and 10% actual dialogue, but it has finally reached the point where I have the opportunity to introduce more action and, more importantly, fluff! Enjoy x_**

Lara reached out and pulled the door open so she could fit through it. A draft hit her in the face as she did so and she recoiled, groaning and throwing her hand to her nose. Sam was right. It stank.

Lara pulled her jacket up to her nose and zipped it so it stayed there. The smell wasn't as strong like this, but the stale stench still managed to reach her nose through the jacket. Even so, Lara entered the building, following the blood droplets on the ground. As she pulled the door back to its original position behind her, Lara realised that the opening had been her only light source; the structure had no windows. She sighed heavily and got out her phone, turning on the torch. The battery was very limited so she had a quick scan of the room before turning it off again. It was during this scan that she noticed a series of pegs nailed to the wall beside her. On the leftmost peg, a small black torch hung from a piece of string. Putting her phone away, she picked the torch up and turned it on. It had a brighter and more powerful beam that her phone, and revealed that on the next peg there was a note from Cow Blood. Lara picked it up and shone the torch on it.

 _I must congratulate you for making it this far, Lara. I thought you might appreciate a torch as a reward. Come along now, there's no time to waste. Sam is waiting for you._

Lara pocketed the note and swept the beam of light around the room. The room was quite large, but contained absolutely nothing. The only signs of blood were on the note that she had just found and the droplets in the entrance which had stopped abruptly about a foot in front of the door. Lara failed to see where the smell was coming from, but presumed it must be from further into the building, which meant only one thing: it got worse.

Lara walked further into the room and shone the torch in front of her. There was a door at the end of the room, but this one was completely closed. It was made of steel and looked heavy to say the least. Lara crossed her fingers in the hope that it wasn't locked- there would be no chance of her being able to open it.

Shining her torch on the stone ground, Lara walked quickly towards the door, her boots echoing madly in the dark. On closer inspection, she found the door handle to be drenched in bright red blood. Lara groaned quietly to herself, but she grabbed the handle anyway and pulled hard. The door was heavy but it opened with ease with the sound of metal scraping concrete. Lara pulled it so it was open fully before wiping the blood on her trousers. It took her a moment to remember that she was in fact wearing Sam's white jeans.

"Oh shit," Lara murmured, shining her torch on the big red stain on her thigh. "Oh well. Given the circumstances I'm sure she'll get over it."

She lifted the torch up parallel to her eyes and looked around. Over the threshold of the door stood a wooden balcony that over looked a room over three times the size of the one she was standing in. At the front of the balcony there was a waist-high fence, presumably to prevent people falling over the edge. Stepping forward, Lara found that the fence around the balcony was in fact a banister, leading down a set of stairs to her left. To her right, the fencing cornered round to attach to the wall she had just walked through. Lara leaned over the banister to her front and felt it give a little, making her step back with a gasp.

"Don't worry!" came a booming voice. "It's perfectly safe."

It was Cow Blood.

"Where are you?" Lara shouted stupidly.

"Come and find me. You're on the right track," he replied with an audible grin.

"Bloody bastard," growled, jogging down the stairs with one hand on the banister.

After about 20 steps, the stairs stopped and Lara had to jump down four feet onto a wooden platform. From here, there was another 10 steps on her right until she reached the floor. This room echoed even more than the last and there was a loud thud as Lara landed on the floor. The unexpected noise made her jump slightly, but she composed herself before continuing forward to the other end of the room. On reaching the farthest wall, Lara was surprised to find no door. She walked along the wall to see if the door was further left or right, but found only the same monotonous grey paint over plaster. Sighing in frustration, Lara jogged round the edge of the room, keeping her eyes on the wall beside her at all times, but after a full circuit, she was still none the wiser.

As she caught her breath back, she decided she had no option but to ask for help.

"How do you expect me to find you if I don't have a way through?"

There was a crackling of a microphone turning on before a voice came through a speaker somewhere.

"You must learn to have more patience. You have hardly started to look," Cow Blood replied. "Then again... I expect nothing more from a Lady or a Lord."

Lara scoffed before shaking her head. There was nothing else to say. She had to keep looking.

Lara lifted her torch up above her head so she could get a good look at the ceiling, but her beam didn't reach that high. Her only option was to go back up onto the balcony and look up from there. The balcony was just over halfway between the floor and the ceiling, so her view from it should be competent.

After walking up the first ten steps, Lara had to walk back down a few after realising she would need a running jump to reach the other set of stairs. After jumping up and grabbing hold of the staircase, Lara ran to the top of it and shone her torch around the ceiling. There was nothing to be seen. The ceiling looked exactly the same as the other four walls. Lara also checked the floor only to find the same result. In desperation, she slowly turned her hand around to scan each wall up at a higher level. Everything looked the same apart from a narrow strip on the wall to her right. At the upmost point of her beam, Lara could see a small area of wall that hadn't been plastered over. It was still grey, but slightly lighter and had a rough, concrete finish. Lifting her torch an inch higher, Lara found a wooden door embedded into the wall just above it. The strip of exposed wall must have been where a platform to the door once stood. Now there seemed to be no way to get up there.

"I suppose I'm meant to be going up there," Lara murmured, half to herself, half to Cow Blood.

"That's right. But I'm sure you'll find that easy. You're a Croft after all," Cow Blood hummed, saying the last part in a Yorkshire accent.

"Don't you dare say that!" Lara yelled loudly, immediately recognising the imitation of Roth.

Cow Blood barked a laugh.

"You don't deserve to quote him! Nothing you say will ever be half as intelligent or meaningful as what he said to me. Roth was a good man. Don't you dare disgrace his name by using his words," Lara shouted powerfully.

' _You're a Croft'_ had been Roth's favourite saying. He had often said it to Lara in moments of distress and hopelessness. Lara had always shook her head at him and rolled her eyes, denying that being a Croft meant anything to her. But it did. It always had. And she wouldn't be where she was right now if Roth hadn't reminded her of that.

There was no response from Cow Blood, so Lara looked around to find a way up to the door. The wall to her left had nothing to grab hold of, and the wall to her front was too far away to reach even if it had. Lara turned so she faced the doorway that she had originally come through, and found that there was a wooden ledge, about five foot long, only three feet above the doorframe. She smiled in relief. Lara pulled herself up onto the banister that joined onto the same wall and balanced on it carefully. It wobbled and creaked as she shifted her weight, but there was no other way to reach the ledge. Lara unzipped her jacket so she could put her torch between her teeth before bending her knees, readying herself to jump up for the ledge. After a mental count to three, she kicked off hard, the banister breaking and falling to the floor as she did so. This shortened her jump, but she managed to grab the ledge with one hand and pull herself onto it. It was just wide enough for her feet to stand side by side on, so she leant against the wall in order to keep her balance.

Taking her torch back into her hand, Lara looked down at the banister she had just broken before looking back to her own height. As she had hoped, there was another ledge similar to the one she stood on, only four feet away and a foot above her head. She put her torch back in her mouth and prepared herself to jump again, but it was harder jumping from such a narrow area. Lara bent her knees and leaned forward before leaping up and grabbing hold of the next ledge. Thankfully, this one was wider and she was able to stand with her feet a good distance apart. Lara approached the edge of this piece of wood and found that she was only a couple of metres from the corner where this wall joined to the adjacent one which held the wooden door. Unfortunately, she struggled to find another ledge to jump onto. It was only after a thorough search with the torch that she noticed something sticking out where the two walls met. Lara leaned forward as far as she dared and found that there was a small square piece of wood protruding from the corner. It was no more than a foot each way and was far too small to Lara to stand on. She doubted she would even be able to reach it at a grab, but it was obvious that this was the way she had to come.

"There's no way I can make that jump," Lara sighed, shaking her head. "The ledge is just too small, I can't be sure of my accuracy."

"Have faith, girl," Cow Blood chuckled, imitating Roth again.

This angered Lara so much that more adrenalin kicked in and, despite the drop of over ten feet below her, she pushed off with all her might and stretched out her hands as far as they could go. Her hopeful grunt echoing loudly around her, Lara soared through the air and managed to clutch on to the square with the fingers of her right hand. As she did so, her body swung to the right, hitting her back hard against the wall. Lara's torch plummeted to the floor with a deafening crash.

"Bugger!" she yelled, looking down as the light went out and she was plunged into darkness. Lara held on to the ledge desperately and lifted her left hand up to get a better grip. Once both of her hands were gripping as firmly as they could through the moisture of blood and sweat, Lara pulled up her feet so her toes pushed against the wall. She was sitting back on her own strength; the stance wasn't ideal, but it was all she could do for the moment.

"How the hell can I get some light?" she whispered in a sort of angered growl.

"Good question," snarled Cow Blood. "That was the only torch I had provided for you. I was under the impression one would be enough. I should've known better with you privileged children."

"Oh shut up and help me out. You're the one who wants to play this bloody game but that's not going to happen if I die, is it?" Lara yelled back.

"You make a very good point there, Miss Croft. So you're telling me you would like some light to help you out?"

"Yes!"

As soon as the word had left Lara's mouth, the room was filled with blinding white light and Lara lost her grip with her left hand as her reflexes used it to shield her eyes. At the same time, her feet slipped and she was left holding on with one hand. She dangled dangerously, but managed to reach up and seize the ledge once again, her eyes still squeezed shut. After a few moments, Lara fluttered her eyelids as an attempt to open them and she managed to keep them open a couple of millimetres. She gave it another few seconds before letting her eyelids fully peal apart. Lara blinked a couple of times, then focused on the area in front of her.

The whole room was lit up from the four ceiling corners. Lara squinted up at them and found that they were carefully positioned stage lights. How she hadn't noticed them before she didn't know.

"Better?" Cow Blood asked.

"Perfect," Lara lied, gripping the wood tightly so her knuckles turned white.

She lifted her body up again so that her feet were pressed against the wall like they had been before the lights came on. Looking up, Lara was able to find her next checkpoint: another ledge, this time made of steel, barely bigger than the one she currently hung from. It was only a foot higher and two feet across, but this would prove to be a hard jump from the position she was in. Lara sighed hard and let herself think it through.

 _Just use your feet against the wall. Kick off with those and push away with your right hand. You can probably just about make it._

"Good idea," Cow Blood said suddenly.

Lara paused, assuming she had spoken aloud before realising she hadn't.

"What?" she asked, frowning.

"Oh nothing," he replied. For once he didn't sound like he was grinning. He had made a mistake.

"Did you just _hear_ what I was thinking?" Lara asked, frowning harder.

"Do you really have time for this, Miss Croft? Your girlfriend is awaiting you."

Lara hated to agree with him, but he was in fact right. This was something she would have to pursue later. For now, she must concentrate on getting through the next leap.

Concentrating hard, Lara got into position for her jump. She let go of the ledge with her left hand and leaned to her left so her upper body was facing the steel outcropping. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched and before she knew it, she was cutting through the air. Her left arm pointed out like a ballerina's, but her legs thrashed in an ungainly manner as she attempted to thrust herself forward like a long jumper. As Lara neared the ledge, she pulled both of her hands forward to grab on, but she underestimated the height and the jutting bone on her left wrist collided hard with the edge of the steel block. Her left arm flinched back in shock and pain and the room echoed with the raucous crunch that her wrist had made, followed by her screams of agony.

Despite the sudden shock, Lara's right hand was still in the correct place and she managed to keep a firm enough grip on the block to pull her feet up like she had before. It took a minute or two, but Lara managed to recover from the initial pain of the blow to her wrist. The throbbing was still intense and she knew she had broken a bone, but there was nothing she could do about it now. If only she had The Bag with her.

Although Lara was dangling from a steel ledge in intense pain with cow blood and now her own blood smeared across her clothing, she managed to find a positive: the ledge was much bigger than it had seemed. From the previous ledge, the steel had had light shining along one side, causing it to seem half the length and width of its actual size. On discovering that the block was much bigger, Lara was able to gradually pull herself up and stand on the steel, facing the wall. The wooden door was only an arm's length away, but Lara immediately knew why she hadn't been able to see the steel ledge earlier: it was the exact same colour as the wall and would have looked completely 2D from the balcony.

"Finally," Lara muttered, cradling her wrist and looking up the door.

This, however, wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed. Lara would have to pull open the door with her left hand, something that seemed impossible due to the stabbing pain in her wrist. Not only that, but she would also have to lean over and use her left hand to grab onto the threshold of the door, thus leaving her full body weight to rely on the same hand.

Thinking all of this through didn't put Lara off getting through the door, but she knew the pain would be close to unbearable. To try and give her wrist some more support, she put the top of her v-neck t-shirt in her mouth and took another part with her right hand before pulling sharply. The shirt ripped with ease and she pulled a strip from it, leaving her with an open top over a white vest.

"Sorry Sam," she sighed, looking at the strip of top before wrapping it round her injured wrist. Lara secured it with a hair slide, wincing slightly as the movement made her wrist twinge, before stepping to the edge and looking at the door. With her right hand pressed securely against the wall, she leaned over and took the door handle in her left hand. She pulled the handle down tentatively and in consequence felt a sharp stab in her wrist.

"Fuck it," she muttered, before yanking the handle down hard and pulling on the door.

Lara yelled loudly through gritted teeth; the agony was excruciating, but she had managed to get the door open. After cradling her wrist and biting her bottom lip for a few moments, Lara had to recalculate how she was going to get through the door. Her original plan of falling onto her left hand and pulling the rest of her body over would not work- any attempt of bearing weight on that hand could only end in disaster. Instead, Lara turned her body so her back was against the wall, the door on her right hand side. She pressed her back firmly onto the wall before stepping out with her right foot, placing it securely onto the threshold of the door. Next, Lara leaned over as far as possible and grabbed the doorframe with her right hand. Then in one swift movement, she pulled the frame and swung her body round, landing in the entrance with a low thud.

The room was pitch black for about 3 seconds.

"Well I suppose you have made it," Cow Blood said.

A small, sickly yellow light came on in the centre of the room. Underneath it sat Sam.


	16. Chapter 16

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam._**

 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _A little bit of everything in this chapter, if you know what I mean! Enjoy and let me know what you think!_**

"Lara!" Sam yelled desperately, jumping up and running at Lara. Saying Sam was surprised would be a complete understatement.

Lara held her left arm out to keep it out of the way and picked Sam up with her right arm, wrapping it tightly around her waist. Sam let Lara's neck cradle her head as she sobbed into it violently.

"Don't let them take me away again," Sam wept helplessly. "Don't leave me."

Lara hushed Sam before pulling away.

"Where is he?" Lara asked, holding Sam's cheek and looking into her eyes.

"Where is who?" Sam sniffed.

"The guy who's doing all this. Where is he?"

"I don't know, I've never seen him. It's always his cronies that take me away."

"Are we alone in this room?" Lara asked impatiently.

"Yes. We're alone. The guy with the gun left a few minutes ago."

That was enough for Lara. On hearing this she pushed Sam down onto the floor and straddled her clumsily as they kissed wildly. Their moans of pleasure rang loudly in the otherwise silent room but it only made Lara want Sam more.

 _Want is no word for this,_ Lara thought to herself as she breathed into Sam. _This is nothing but_ need.

Lara didn't stop Sam when her hands found Lara's breasts under the ripped v-neck, nor did she hesitate to reciprocate the gesture. Lara leaned down further and kissed the line of Sam's jaw before continuing down her neck and along her collarbone. Sam was paralysed at Lara's touch, managing only to emit small groans of encouragement. This was emphasised as Lara let her right knee slip between Sam's legs and their grinding motions grew in depth and pace.

A loud clatter from the far corner of the room was the only thing that stopped them. Lara looked up, chest heaving, eyes glazed, lips pink. She sat back on her knees and pulled herself together before rising to her feet. Sam followed suit immediately, desperate not to be left behind. As they reached the darkness of the corner, Lara's eyes fell on something familiar. It was The Bag. There was a note pinned to the front. It was written in red, obviously. Wet red.

 _Thought you might find this useful._

Lara looked up above where it had landed and found a small hatch, no bigger than the wooden square ledge she had dangled from only minutes prior. Neither of the women would be able to fit through it.

"Damn it," Lara muttered to herself, dropping the bag and walking away.

"What's the matter?" Sam asked, grabbing Lara's hand to stop her. It was her bad hand and she jumped away in pain. Sam frowned worriedly and stepped closer to Lara.

"He left a note instead of just speaking to me which must mean he's not here anymore. He must have left as soon as I reached you," Lara explained, not meeting Sam's gaze.

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it? Lara?"

Lara shook her head. "I wanted to catch him. I wanted to hand him over to the police and watch the bastard get everything he deserves."

Sam shook her head in return. "That doesn't matter now. What matters is that we're together. What matters is that he's not on our backs anymore."

"Don't be so naive," Lara snapped. "Of course he's still on our backs. This is a game, Sam, you know it is. And he hasn't finished with us. He'll be back. Or his bloody soldiers will be, I know-"  
"God, Lara, why do you have to be so fucking pessimistic? Can't you just be happy and grateful that you're with me and neither of us are dead?" Sam argued back.

"I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being _real_ istic, Sam. We can't pretend everything is okay because it's not. I'm not sure you understand what I've been through to get here. It has been hell trying to find you and the tasks that I've had to complete have been ridiculous. The only way I can describe it is utter torture bec-"  
"Oh because it's been such a walk in the park for me!" yelled Sam. "There's nothing I wanted more than to be drugged and kidnapped and electrocuted and beaten up! I've loved every fucking second of it!"

Lara laughed angrily before speaking quietly. "I slaved for hours over these bloody stupid clues that this crazy man has given me. I played a sick computer game that wasn't even a game. I jumped out of an aeroplane and watched minute after minute of a shitty skiing competition, both of which turned out to be completely pointless and irrelevant tasks! I listened to the woman I love recite a shitty clue that was written by a pathetic psychopath. I listened to afore mentioned psychopath take the piss out of my dead loved one and mock him like he was nothing. I climbed along and jumped across ledges that are metres above the ground, breaking my wrist in the process, just to get here. Why do you think I put myself through all of that, Sam? Especially so soon after Yamatai. Why on Earth did I put myself through it? Because I love you. Because I wanted to rescue you. I wanted to get you out of here and take you home and make everything better. Contrary to your apparent beliefs, I don't want to play this man's twisted games. I don't want to carry on with this ridiculous adventure. Quite frankly I'm scared of this man because he hurts me one minute and helps me the next and I just don't even know what's going on anymore. Just when I think I've cracked it he throws another bombshell and I have to start all over again. I don't enjoy it. I do it because I have to. I do it so I can help you and love you and so everything can go back to normal.

"So please, Sam, believe me when I say this is not the end. He's going to come back and destroy everything that we've fought for. I'll do my best to stop it but I am virtually powerless. I just hope you're going to stand by me."

Sam stood motionless for a few seconds before bending down and retrieving a bandage from The Bag. She unravelled the strip of material from Lara's wrist and replaced it with the bandage. She then found a joint support in the bottom of The Bag and put it on top of the bandage. She kissed Lara's lips softly.

"Thank you," Sam whispered, smiling sadly.

"You don't have to thank me. You never have to thank me," Lara replied, returning the expression.

They sat down hand in hand. After using the next few minutes to share their recent experiences, Sam asked a question that Lara hoped she would be able to avoid.

"So... What now?"

Lara sighed. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm shattered."

Sam nodded in agreement. Lara glanced at the wall that stood behind the wooden chair, briefly examining the door it held. It looked sturdy and strong, but Lara was willing to bet it wasn't locked anyway.

She took a deep breath. "I think we should stay here tonight."

"Wh- Are you serious?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows at Lara.

Lara nodded. "Something tells me it's not going to be easy to get out of here. We can't come through the way I came- it was hard enough getting up here, getting down would be impossible. And I'm willing to bet that whatever is behind that door isn't going to be all swings and roundabouts."

"Something tells me you're right," agreed Sam.

"Which way did you come in?" Lara asked, frowning. There was no other apparent way to enter the room they sat in.

"No idea. I was unconscious."

Lara sighed sympathetically and kissed the top of Sam's head.

"I don't think I'm up to trying to get out tonight. I think we should sleep."

Sam nodded again and they both laid down on the solid, uncomfortable floor.

"Hey Lara," Sam murmured after a couple of minutes.

"Mmhmm?" Lara said sleepily.

"You've come so far from this whole experience, you know?"

"Really?"

"Really. Wanna know how I know?"

"How?" Lara asked.

"Earlier you said Yamatai. That's the first time I've heard you say Yamatai since before we went to Yamatai," Sam smiled.

They smiled blissfully until they fell asleep.

Lara woke up to a strange yet familiar tune playing faintly behind her. She attempted to sit up before opening her eyes but found she couldn't move. When she eventually opened her eyes (it took her a long time to get started on Saturday mornings) she found that her right arm was trapped underneath the weight of Sam's torso. Lara, desperate to gain use of her left arm back, reached over with her free hand to retrieve Sam's wrist which she knew had a watch wrapped round it.

10:30 am exactly.

Sam stirred as Lara set her arm back down again and her eyes fluttered open to see her girlfriend.

"Morning," Sam smiled, stretching and sighing.

"Do you hear that?" Lara asked, pulling her arm free.

Sam stopped mid-stretch to listen carefully.

"Yeah," she murmured, frowning. "Hey, you know what that is, right?"

"I recognise it but I can't put my finger on it. Do you know it too?"

"It's the New Super Mario Bros. theme tune!" exclaimed Sam, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're right, it is," remarked Lara, sitting up to listen harder.

She looked around the room, trying to identify where it was coming from, but the corners of the room were still in darkness. She prowled round the edges, looking at the floor with a furrowed brow before she came to the corner she was sure it would be in: the corner beneath the hatch. To Lara's surprise, the source of the noise wasn't on the floor or around the hatch area. The noise had, however, gotten a lot louder as she had approached this part of the room. Her head bent low, Lara carried on along the next wall, the noise getting ever louder, before stopping beside the door. That's where it was coming from. The other side of the door.

By this time, Sam had got up and joined Lara. As Lara took hold of the doorknob, Sam grabbed the waistline of Lara's jeans to prevent her from going further.

"What?" Lara whispered, in case they were greeted by an undesirable stranger on the other side.

"Are those my designer jeans?" Sam whispered back, looking disgusted.

Lara rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sam, they're your designer jeans. From high school. Does it really matter?"

"Yeah it matters," Sam hissed, tapping Lara's forehead.

"The fact it took you this long to notice that I'm wearing them tells me that it doesn't matter one bit. Come on."

Sam huffed before clutching the back of Lara's jacket. Lara twisted the knob with her right hand and felt it give.

"3, 2, 1."

She pulled hard and opened the door with a heavy groan from both herself and the door. On the floor in front of Lara and Sam sat a small, black DS Lite. Mario was on the screen, waiting for a level to be selected, the music blaring loudly. Lara looked up, suddenly noticing the arrival of light in front of her. There was a doorway only ten feet in front of them. It had no door, it was simply open for them to walk through. It led to the outdoors.

"Why the hell is that there?" Sam asked, releasing Lara's jacket and nodding down at the game console.

"Who gives a shit, Sam, let's go," Lara whispered excitedly, making for the door. But after only three steps they were forced to stop as a man with a gun turned the corner through the open doorway, pointing his weapon threateningly at Sam. Lara gasped and Sam winced exasperatedly. It was the same man who Lara had seen on the Skype call.

"Step back," the man ordered quietly, pressing forward with the gun in his hands.

Lara and Sam did as they were told. Lara didn't take her eyes off the gun, but Sam was careful that they didn't crush the Nintendo; it was obviously important.

"Pick it up," he said in the same monotonous voice.

His eyes were staring at Sam so Lara nudged her to do what he said. Sam bent down and picked up the DS but didn't look at it.

"Press B."

"Why?" Sam asked, her hands shaking.

"Press. Fucking. B."

"Do it, Sam," Lara hissed, nudging her again.

Sam bit her lip before bringing her thumb down on the B button. As soon as she had pressed it, she and Lara were launched into the air by the floor beneath them which had shot up on springs. The wood and springs fell away into the hole that the trap had created. The man laughed when Lara and Sam screamed as the realised they were going through the floor.

Sam's eyes were screwed up tightly, but Lara had to keep hers wide open. They fell through the gap and landed a few feet down on a hard, wet surface. It didn't stop there though. Lara could see that they were surrounded by red as they whizzed down what seemed to be a water slide. The only difference was that the water had been replaced with blood.

The smell was putrid but there was no escape. The slide was a tube that surrounded the whole body and it twisted this way and that with no indication when it was going to stop. Lara was scared it never would. She held Sam tightly next to her to stop them from being separated: Lara would go considerably quicker than Sam, being the taller and heavier of the two. Sam dared to open her eyes when she realised the ordeal wouldn't be a quick one, but she certainly regretted it when she did. Sam let out an ear-piercing scream when she realised they were both drenched in reeking blood. Lara tried to comfort her, but she herself wanted nothing more than to accompany Sam in her shrieks.

"It's okay, Sammy. We're going to get out of here. Don't you worry," Lara said once Sam's screams had died down to a sob.

After only ten seconds longer, the chute came to an end and Sam and Lara were deposited out onto a hard, grey flooring, quite like the rest of the building. They landed with an ugly splat before standing up and trying to look around. The room was pitch black and there was no noise apart from the menacing drip of blood as it seeped from their clothes and fell to the floor. Lara had an arm around Sam but it only made the situation more disgusting.

"Come on, let's try and find a wall," Lara whispered.

As soon as they took a step forward they were greeted with another surprise. The room lit up and the Mario theme tune started to play out of speakers around the room. If Lara didn't already know she was in a slaughter house at that present time, she would have never guessed she was inside a slaughter house. The whole room was decorated high and low to mimic the Mario game: there was grass on the floor, question boxes hovering above bricks, tortoises roaming around. And at the end of it all, metres away in the distance, there was a door. Lara looked up as something caught her eye. Above her own and Sam's head, there was a large, flashing sign.

"Let's play!"


	17. Chapter 17

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own the characters of Sam and Lara.**_

 ** _Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay! I was back in hospital on my usual day of writing so I was behind on school work so I didn't have time to write. I've also had issues with work at school and my diary is full of coursework right now so less frequent updates looks likely right now. Sorry everyone! Please enjoy and review!_**

"Lara I don't wanna do this anymore," Sam whimpered, crippling to her knees with her eyes on the floor.

"Me neither," Lara sighed as she tried to wipe the blood away from her eyes and mouth.

She leant down and did the same to Sam- though to little effect- before standing up straight again and looking over the terrain to their front.

"You know we have to," Lara muttered, seizing Sam's arm and pulling her to her feet.

Sam nodded and made a fruitless attempt to disperse the blood around her eyes, like Lara had done, before joining her girlfriend in looking across the Mario setting.

"Do you know how to play?" Lara asked, looking at Sam.

"Sure. It's easy."

Lara was quiet, hoping Sam would pick up on her hints.

"You want me to go first?" Sam asked, sighing.

Lara nodded.

Sam nodded in response and set off under the flashing sign, stepping up onto a podium of bricks. Lara followed suit, suddenly becoming more aware of the theme tune that played in their ears. Sam pointed at the floor.

"I think it's poisonous," she murmured, pointing at a large tortoise that crawled slowly like a prowling sentry. "On Mario, you have to jump on them to kill them."

"Do you think it'll be the same for this?" Lara asked.

"Well... I assume jumping on it would work."

Lara shrugged, supposing she was right. Sam jumped off the podium and onto the tortoise, landing with a simultaneous crunch and splat. Sam groaned in disgust as she found herself covered in tortoise guts and blood. If this had happened to her prior to the whole blood ordeal, she might have screamed, but the new arrival of blood on her clothes made little difference now. Lara grimaced at the mangled tortoise before jumping down next to it to join Sam. They were on grass now and they were faced with a large mushroom that slid up and down on some kind of pole. The mechanics were shoddy, as though it was put together in a matter of minutes, yet a lot of thought had obviously gone into the whole building of the place.

Sam waited until the mushroom descended fully before jumping onto it. Lara followed once the mushroom had gone up and back down again. There was plenty of space for them both, and so there had to be: there was a large gap in front of them where the floor disappeared before reappearing in the form of desert sand and cacti. Between the two of them, they decided that Lara should jump first in order to scale how big the jump was; she was, after all, the better athlete.

She had to put some effort in to make the jump, but Lara managed to land on her feet with a light thud. This room didn't seem to echo so much, but she suspected this was due to the fact the room was packed with Mario scenery and had music blaring from every corner. Lara turned to encourage Sam to jump over when the music stopped.

Both women stopped suddenly.

When nothing happened, Lara spoke.

"Come on, Sam. Jump!"

Sam did so, landing on her feet but overbalancing and falling on her hands and knees onto the sand. Lara placed her hands round Sam's waist to help her back up.

"Okay?" she asked.

Sam nodded. They kissed briefly before turning to identify their next obstacle. There was no obvious obstruction in front of them, so Lara grabbed Sam's hand and walked swiftly ahead. All caution seemed to have left her by this time; she was no longer worried about being attacked, she just wanted to get out of there with Sam by her side.

"Wait!" yelled Sam suddenly, snagging Lara back.

Sam was looking down at the sand so Lara followed her gaze. She could see nothing unusual.

"What?" Lara asked, looking at Sam.

Sam frowned silently.

"Sam we really don't have time for th-"

Sam crouched down and started to brush away the sand with caution. As she did so, a shiny metal surface started to appear. Eventually, a metal strip followed by a gap was uncovered. Sam stepped back and grabbed a stone from the floor.

"Step back," she ordered Lara.

Despite herself, Lara couldn't help but smile; she loved it when Sam told _her_ what to do.

Sam threw the rock over the metal strip and Lara jumped back as a band of fire roared up from the floor. It lasted around two seconds before disappearing abruptly. Lara was just starting to relax when the fire reappeared. This happened a few times before Sam spoke.

"Every two seconds. It comes up for two then down for two," she murmured, looking at Lara.

"You're right. Jesus, Sam, if you hadn't spotted that..."

"I know," Sam replied, smiling slightly.

They waited for the fire to come up again, then jumped over the strip as soon as it had died down. Once they were safely away from the fire, Lara pointed up into the air.

"Look," she muttered.

Hanging from the high ceiling was a yellow box with a question mark printed on each side of it. Sam and Lara ran over to it. There was a rounders bat on the floor beside it. It was obvious what they had to do.

Lara picked up the bat with her good hand and swung it lightly to feel the weight of it.

"Stop pretending you're a pro sports player, there's nobody here to show off to," Sam giggled, shaking her head. Although in considerably low spirits, Sam was able to find amusement in Lara's habits. It was always the case.

"I'm not, I'm just feeling the weight of it. Otherwise I won't be able to break the box, will I?" Lara answered irritably.

Sam stifled a laugh at Lara's indignant excuse.

"Sam."

"Yeah?"

"Do me favour and shut up."

Sam sniggered. "Oh get on with it, you drama queen."

Lara sighed before standing with her feet shoulder width apart. She heard Sam smirk behind her, so she shot her a glare before taking an enthusiastic swing at the hanging box. The bottom of the box fell away with ease and two green, army helmets fell out. Lara picked one up and looked questioningly at Sam.

"Question mark boxes always dispense something that will give you an extra line of defence," Sam explained, putting one of the helmets on.

Lara nodded, checking her helmet carefully before putting it on herself.

"Keep an eye out above your head. These helmets weren't for nothing," Lara muttered.

"I got that for myself, thanks, Lara."

Lara shoved her lightly and they both smiled. After a few steps, they had come to a new terrain: snow. It was fake, of course, but the temperature still seemed to drop as they approached it.

"There's another tortoise," Sam pointed out. There was a lumpy mass sticking out from the snow. It was facing them but was completely still.

"I'll do it," Lara offered. She took a long run up before jumping down hard onto the shell. Like last time, shell and guts flew out and onto the floor. The mess stained the snow with red, purple and brown splashes.

"Lovely," Lara sighed.

Sam ran up to join her and took Lara's hand again.

"Looks like we're almost there," she commented, nodding her head up at the door that stood only a few metres in front of them. On approaching it, they found a note pinned to the door. Naturally it was written in red.

 _Easy, wasn't it? Go on through and take your time. It's not over yet, Lara._

Sam screwed up the note and opened the door confidently. As soon as she did so, a roar of applause and cheering blew up. Sam and Lara frowned at each other before realising why. The green pitch and floodlights said it all: the next game was FIFA.

"One game after another," Lara sighed, shutting the door behind them.

They stood in awe for a while: the pitch in front of them was full length, yet it was still fully inside the same building. Lara found it hard to believe this whole setup had been sculptured for her.

Walking onto the pitch, the women noticed that there was a ball on the centre spot. On the other side, there stood no less than 11 men, all stood in a soldier-like 'at ease' position. None of them made eye contact with the women, but when Sam tried to step over the halfway line without the ball, every man in the room produced a pistol from behind his back. Sam stepped back and stood in position for a kick off. Lara nodded at her before taking position next to the ball, ready to start the match. Now back in the correct positions, each man put his pistol into the waistband of his shorts. Suddenly, the crowd noise died down from the speakers and was replaced with the short blast of a whistle, signalling the start of the match.

"Ready Sammy?" Lara asked, eyebrows raised.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

As soon as the ball touched Lara's foot, she was mobbed by at least three of the opposing players. The football was taken from her almost instantly and there was a goal in no time.

A crackle came across the speakers and Cow Blood's booming growl could be heard: "Three strikes and out, ladies."

"Shit," Lara muttered as she made her way back to the centre spot.

She quietly spoke tactics with Sam before taking her mark by the football again.

Another whistle sounded and she passed the ball to Sam before speeding down the pitch. Sam managed to swerve her way around the slide tackles and kicks that came her way. Once she was a good way into the attacking zone, she chipped the ball across to Lara who had managed to find her way to the net. Lara lifted her leg and let the football bounce off her knee before kicking it hard. Despite a long stretch of the goalie's arm, the ball soared into the back of the net with a violent shake of the netting.

"Yes!" Lara heard Sam exclaim from across the pitch.

But Lara didn't celebrate. At this end of the pitch, she was close to a wall which held two doors. Above each door was a sign: the left one said 'winner' and the right said 'loser'. Lara frowned before noticing more signs, one on each door. The winning door had a sign which read 'Animal Crossing'. The losing door read 'Call of Duty'. This could only mean one thing.

Lara jogged back over to Sam and whispered in her ear.

"Sam, we have to win. If we win this, the next level is Animal Crossing. If not, it's Call of Duty."

"You've gotta be shitting me," Sam said, staring at Lara.

"I'm not. It's three strikes and out. I guess that works both ways. If we can get three goals, we've done it."

"Okay... okay, let's go."

They waited for the opposition to put the ball back in the centre before stepping back. One of the players gestured for Lara to take the ball again, so she did, passing to Sam as soon as the whistle sounded. Lara ran down the pitch straight away, hoping to succeed in the same setup as last time. The players, however, were wise to her tactics. Sam was tackled instantly and, since both girls had ran up the pitch, there was no line of defence, resulting in another goal.

 _2-1. Great._

"Come on, Sam!" Lara shouted. It was supposed to be a yell of encouragement but came out as more of a command.

Sam shook her head and huffed as she made her way back to her starting to position.

Lara tried to give Sam the chance to start with the ball, but as soon as she mentioned this, each man pulled out his pistol again. Lara put her hands up submissively and stepped back into her original place.

When the whistle blew, Lara passed it to Sam who passed it back immediately. Lara started running with the ball whilst Sam weaved in and out of the attackers. As Lara made an attempt to glide the ball to Sam, the pass was cut by a defender. The defender kicked the ball hard and, with no goalie, it went straight into the back of the net.

There was no celebration. As soon as the ball crossed the line, each player snapped back into soldier mode and started marching towards Sam and Lara.

"No!" yelled Sam desperately.

Lara grabbed her hand and yanked it hard so they would stay together. The soldiers, however, had no intentions of splitting them up. They rounded the girls up like sheepdogs herding sheep. Sam and Lara were surrounded, each player facing inwards so all eyes were on them. Then in one smooth move, every player pulled out his gun and pointed it at Sam. Still marching, they started moving her and Lara towards the doors at the end of the room. Of course they were headed for the door labelled 'loser'. Sam clutched Lara's arm as they got closer, but they both knew better than to resist the soldiers. Instead, they held on to each other with shaking hands until they reached the wall. As they did so, the men to their front parted, making sure to leave no gap between themselves and the wall. Lara and Sam had no choice but to go through the door.

Lara took the lead and pushed the door open. Before she could take in her surroundings, she was shoved onto the floor with Sam following suit. The door slammed behind them. Then the gunshots started.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Disclaimer:**_ ** _I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam._**

 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _Sorry for such a delay but I'm afraid there's gonna be another one! I'm back in hospital in the next couple of weeks and from then there will be less updates :( I'll try and update again before then but it doesn't look likely! Please stay patient and stay with the story, I really appreciate it! Enjoy!_**

At the sound of the first gunshot, Lara grabbed Sam and pulled her behind a nearby crate that was obviously there as a blockade.

"What the hell...?" she whispered, staring around at the flash of gunshots in an otherwise pitch black room.

"Call of Duty. Be thankful for the helmets," Sam murmured in Lara's ear.

Lara winced and this time it was Sam's turn to comfort Lara.

"Don't worry, I'm a pro at this game," Sam assured her.

"You're forgetting that we don't have a gun, Sam," Lara pointed out.

"You're forgetting I'm one of the highest ranks, so something as trivial as 'not having a gun' doesn't take anything away from my expertise, thank you very much."

Lara looked at Sam doubtfully as she failed to see how the absence of a gun was a trivial matter.

Sam sighed. "Do you trust me?"

Lara nodded shortly.

"Then don't worry," Sam answered, cupping Lara's cheek and kissing her lips.

Despite being drenched in blood from head to toe in a strange building with gunshots firing in all directions, Lara had rarely felt safer than she did at this moment. Lara was used to feeling independent, brave, heroic, desperate, determined and all those other things she was forced to feel when she risked her life to save others. But the subtleness of Sam's lips on her own, the passion passing from tongue to tongue and the heat of Sam's breath on Lara's upper lip took all of those daring needs away from her. Lara no longer felt that she had to stand up and protect everyone; she no longer felt responsible for the position they were in; she no longer felt the need to play the heroine. With Sam by her side giving a promise of safety, Lara knew she would be okay and that the mess they were in didn't come close to out weighing their love for each other. She felt secure. Protected. Content. A feeling she had only experienced twice before: once with her father and once with Roth. Neither of the previous occurrences neared the emotional strength Lara felt now for it was different with Sam. It was all she had ever needed.

"Are you ready to go?" Sam asked. She was conscious of the continuous pounding of bullets on the wooden crate they were sat behind; it was only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed.

"I'm ready," replied Lara, not taking her eyes away from Sam's.

They shared another brief kiss before Sam stood up into a crouch. Lara followed suit at her rear.

"Over there," Sam pointed discretely. "There's a pile of sandbags. There's usually some kind of rapid fire weapon behind those."

Lara nodded in reply, assuming that was their next destination.

"After three. One. Two. Three."

Sam ran out from behind the crate, still half crouched, and made for the sandbags. Lara followed immediately, not daring to stop for a second. She heard a bullet soar millimetres from her ear, but didn't let it deter her from her path.

Once safely kneeled behind the curved sandbags, something occurred to Lara.

"Sam, I never asked, how's your arm?" Lara asked, suddenly remembering the bullet Sam took to the arm. It seemed so long ago.

Sam let out a short laugh. "It's funny how the pain goes away when your mind is elsewhere."

Lara was about to question this before realising a significant decrease in the pain in her wrist.

"I suppose you're right," Lara admitted.

"I always am," Sam replied nonchalantly.

Lara rolled her eyes and crawled round after Sam as they made their way along the sandbags. As they got closer to the centre, it became apparent that Sam was also right about the probability of a weapon sitting behind the sandbags. Hoisted upon a small podium was some kind of machine gun- it was too dark for Lara to see the details- which Sam didn't hesitate to position herself behind. Although the gun sat above the peak of the sandbag barricade, only Sam's helmet protruded above the gun, suggesting she would be safe should anyone shoot at her (which they inevitably would).

"Sam, shouldn't I do this? I have more experience with shooting guns," Lara pointed out, crouching below the sandbags as she heard gunshots nearby.

"Oh please," Sam muttered.

Lara scoffed. "Are you forgetting that _I_ am the one who saved _you_ on Yamatai?"

"I'm not forgetting anything, Lara. But I play Call of Duty almost every day. So sit back, Sweetie and let me take care of this."

Lara rolled her eyes but let Sam get on with it.

As soon as Sam's finger set over the trigger, two floodlights lit up the pathway in front of them and five soldiers marched towards them in arrowhead configuration. Each looked identical and carried the same gun, all of which pointed at Sam and Lara. They all wore blue futuristic helmets which covered their faces, but the rest of their dress consisted of standard army khaki. Their marching was polished to a robotic degree and they showed no signs of stopping.

Sam cursed before pushing her finger down on the trigger. The front soldier died first without attempting to defend himself, crippling to the floor in a dramatic manner to reveal the two behind him. These two didn't hesitate to use their weapons and Lara had to duck low behind the sandbags in order to protect herself. There was a rapid, dull thud as each bullet hit the sand, but soon the thuds decreased as Sam killed the middle two soldiers. The two soldiers at the rear seemed to gain a lot of floor between their starting position and the sandbags, but Sam managed to kill them both in the nick of time. After doing so, she closed her eyes and breathed out.

"I know it's not easy, but you had to," Lara told her.

Sam nodded. "I know."

She kissed Lara's cheek and looked away. They remained behind the sandbags for a couple of minutes before deciding it would be safe to loot the soldiers. Each woman took a gun and some ammunition as well as a military style water canteen. A thorough look through the soldiers' pockets also provided Lara with a pocket knife and provided Sam with a torch and spare bandage; Lara had idly left The Bag in the room it had been dropped in.

"What now?" Lara asked, noticing the gunshots had stopped completely.

"I suppose there's another door out of here. We'll have to try and find it," Sam suggested. After stepping out of the floodlights, Sam turned on her newly acquired torch, keeping it low on the ground and close to their feet.

They reached a small wall in the middle of the room; it seemed to serve no other purpose than to act as a shield. Sam gestured for Lara to stay behind her as she peered round the wall. There seemed to be no instant threat and set off around the obstacle. Suddenly, another set of floodlights burst on, followed by an onslaught of gunshots, causing her to jump and take cover behind the wall.

"I'll take left side, you take right," ordered Lara, rushing over to the other side of the wall and peering round it. There was no less than nine soldiers, in the same dress as before , marching directly towards the wall Sam and Lara hid behind. As Lara stared at them, they all turned their heads to their right so their blue helmets pointed right at her. Their guns quickly followed suit and started shooting at Lara. She jumped back behind the wall so Sam took their blind side and started shooting immediately. She managed to kill two before they turned to face her. Lara copied Sam's previous move and jumped out to shoot them from behind. It prevailed again as Lara shot down another three of the soldiers before disappearing back round the wall again. The soldiers seemed incapable of looking separate ways. However, they were fast approaching the wall and Lara doubted they would be able to keep using it as a shield. Her thoughts were proven as the remaining four soldiers split down the middle and marched around the wall, shooting wildly. In the meantime, Sam and Lara had started to back off, crouching low to the floor as Sam had instructed. They managed to dodge the shots as well as kill the last of the men.

"Easier than anticipated," Lara breathed out as they went on past the wall. "What's with the blue helmets? Is that from Call of Duty or something?"

Sam shook her head. "I don't know why they're wearing those. I don't recognise them from anywhere."

As they reached the second set of floodlights, they came to the final wall at the end of the room. It was lit up by the same lights and held two doors like the previous room. One read 'Grand Theft Auto' and the other read 'Mario Kart'.

"We actually get to choose?" Sam asked frowning.

Lara shrugged, so Sam stepped forward and took the Mario Kart door handle. That's when a grenade landed by her feet.


	19. Chapter 19

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lady Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura_**

 ** _Author's Note: Thanks for being patient! I'm still recovering from surgery and piled up with school work but I've managed to punch out this rubbish in the last week or so. Try to enjoy!_**

"Well that's never good," Lara muttered, staring down at the grenade.

"Fuck!" yelled Sam. She leaned down and grabbed the grenade, throwing it as far as possible as soon as she straightened out again.

As the grenade reached the peak of the throw, it exploded loudly and shook the room, making Sam topple over. Lara caught her as she watched the grenade. The sound sent her flying into panic and she squeezed her eyes shut, gripping Sam's shoulders tightly.

Once the explosion had subsided, Sam pulled away and grabbed Lara's shoulders before giving her a shake. Lara's eyes remained shut.

"Lara!" Sam growled.

This got a response. Although her eyes didn't flicker, Lara violently tugged at Sam's waist, causing their hips to knock together fiercely.

"Lara," Sam whispered, her own eyes flickering shut. She was desperate to leave the room before another attack, but was all too aware of Lara's breasts pressing against her own.

"Lara, we have to go," Sam whispered half-heartedly. "Let me go."

Lara tugged on Sam again, opening her eyes this time. She lowered her head down to Sam's right ear.

"Don't tell me what to do," Lara growled, brushing her nose against the top cartilage of her girlfriend's ear.

Lara leaned further, slipping her tongue through her lips and letting it flicker over Sam's earlobe. She was thankful that some of the blood had started to dry up and fall off.

After making Sam shudder at this, Lara pushed her away and made for the door again. She knew it turned Sam on when she acted dominant.

Sam sighed heavily and bit her lip. As Lara grabbed the door handle, another two grenades landed by their feet.

"Over there!" shouted Sam, having seen where the grenades came from.

Picking up one grenade each, they threw them in the direction of Sam's arm. Since they reacted quicker this time, the grenades landed before exploding. The floor shook harder and both women fell to the floor, hearing a loud scream as they did so. They must have killed someone.

"Let's just go," Lara ordered, hurrying to her feet.

Sam quickly followed, pushing Lara's back and urging her to speed up. Lara grabbed hold of the door once again and, despite two grenades landing by her feet and one bouncing off her shoulder, she pushed the door open and tumbled through it, dragging Sam with her. As soon as she was sure they were both over the threshold, Lara slammed the door shut and dived forward as an attempt to put as much space as possible between herself and the grenades. She felt Sam land next to her as she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Only moments later there were three explosions, one after the other. The floor shook even more and Lara felt the sound vibrate through her body. She took her right hand away from her ear and clutched Sam's hand as the sound died down. Lara let out a sigh of relief, but as the explosion fell away, its rumble was replaced with that of another kind. It was a kind of revving sound and as it got louder, Lara realised there were multiple layers of the sound on top of each other. At first she thought the sound was coming through speakers, but as she and Sam sat up and looked around, it was evident that the sound was getting closer, not just louder.

"What _is_ that?" Sam asked, scooting up to Lara and looking up.

The room was pretty dark; Lara could only make out a few shapes. The noise was fast approaching and Lara suddenly understood.

"Cars!" she yelled at Sam.

Less than a second later, Cow Blood's signature floodlights lit up the room and, to the women's surprise, they were sat on a race track with six karts zooming towards them.

They both cursed loudly and scurried to their feet. They jumped off the track just in the nick of time, landing messily on the floor.

"It's definitely Mario Kart," Sam murmured, sitting up on her knees and taking in the scenery.

"You don't say," sniggered Lara. "Who's being dramatic now?"

Sam shoved her shoulder but Lara shook her head instead of retaliating. She sat up so her back was off the ground, supported by her arms.

They sat and watched the karts drive round a few times (with no drivers) before Sam spoke.

"I never thought I'd say this since I got here... but can we just sit here for a while?"

Lara smiled and moved Sam's hair out of her eyes.

"Course we can, Sammy."

Sam laid down, her head resting on Lara's lap, and closed her eyes. Lara stroked her hair and thought quietly to herself.

This was tough. She was happy to be reunited with Sam, but she was anxious to leave. The place was obviously dangerous and Cow Blood had eyes on every room; he could do anything he wanted to them. Despite their sitting in what was probably the safest room in the building, Lara thought there must be a catch. She wanted to keep moving but she knew Sam needed rest- this was physically and mentally exhausting for the both of them. Lara had no doubt it would stick with them forever, just as Yamatai had. Then again, Sam hadn't been so gravely effected by Yamatai, so perhaps Sam would be able to pull through this too. Lara hoped so.

The peace didn't last for long.

There was a crackle on the speaker.

"I'd get a move on if I were you, Lady Croft," growled Cow Blood.

Sam jumped at the sound of his voice.

"It's okay," Lara hushed her, rubbing her arm and kissing her head. "It's okay, let's just keep going."

They got up and walked round the track to the start line. The track was like a stadium- just a single loop that went round a green patch of grass in the centre. There were stands for an audience, but they remained empty.

As they approached the start line, the karts that were racing round began to slow to a halt as they joined the women, getting into a staggered position to start the race. As well as the cars that were already on the track, two new ones drove out from the pit stop. They were much bigger than the others, presumably so Lara and Sam could fit inside them. The first was blue with 'LARA' printed across the front in block capitals. The other was green with 'SAM' printed likewise.

"Here we go," Sam murmured, making towards her kart.

"Wait," ordered Lara, holding out an arm. "Let me try something."

She started towards Sam's kart, smiling to herself.

"Lara don't mess with him," Sam sighed.

Lara didn't listen, and attempted to jump over the small door on the side of the kart in order to land in the seat. However, as she did so, the bunch of karts revved violently and set off their horns and alarms. Lara fell back on the floor in shock.

"Nice try," Cow Blood sniggered through the speakers.

Lara stood up and brushed herself off, murmuring, "Whatever" as she did so.

Sam kissed her cheek before getting into her kart. Lara did the same before a traffic light set descended in front of them. As it counted down from red to green, Lara got her feet in position on the pedals before flooring it as soon as the last beep sounded. She regretted it instantly. The kart flew out of her control and she almost crashed at the first bend, twisting the steering wheel with all her might to try and round the corner. She managed it and didn't slow down- Lara was determined to win this one.

It didn't take long for Lara to realise she was first, but it was a different story for Sam- despite her best efforts to mimic Lara's action of flooring the pedal, her kart wouldn't pass the 15 mph mark. As Lara drove round the second corner and along a straight part of the track, she noticed that Sam was still on the straight area that was parallel. She frowned, continuing to keep her speed up; if Sam wasn't going to win, it would be up to her.

Reaching the start line, it occurred to Lara that Cow Blood had complete control of the karts- they had entered without drivers, after all. Perhaps he was slowing Sam down. But why?

Lara soon caught up with Sam and managed to shout above the engine sounds.

"What's going on?!" she yelled.

"I don't know! It won't go any faster and it's steering by itself!" Sam shouted back.

"Just keep going! I'm going to try and win!"

By this time, as Lara had slowed down to Sam's pace, one or two karts had started to gain on them, so Lara sped up again to put more road between them. As she reached the bottom of the track again it had changed; there was a pit stop. Lara failed to see why this had been put there since the races were generally only 3 short laps, but she continued on past it to finish her second lap.

As Lara reached the start line again, she was neck and neck with a small green kart next to her. It said 'Luigi' on the front and had a much louder engine than the rest. She scowled at it before zooming ahead through the line and onto the first corner. As she rounded it, she looked across the track for Sam, but failed to spot her. Squinting, Lara managed to see her at the far end of the track. Her kart seemed to be slowing. Then Lara realised she was screaming.

"Shit... What now?" Lara murmured.

Despite Lara's speed, it seemed to take forever to reach Sam. When she did, what she found wasn't good: Sam's kart was headed for the pit stop which was now occupied by five men in green jumpsuits. Lara recognised them as some of the footballers they had faced earlier on. On approaching the pit stop, Lara's kart suddenly jerked out of her control and sped into the pit stop. Sam was just in front and her car was slowing to a stop next to the men in green jumpsuits. Moments later, Lara involuntarily pulled up behind her where five men in blue jumpsuits appeared from round a corner and walked maliciously towards her.

 _Shit,_ Lara thought. _Now we're screwed._

"Sam! Sam, it's going to be okay!" she screamed.

In front of her, Sam was clearly struggling in her seat, squirming this way and that. When Lara tried to ditch her kart and run, she understood why- not only was Cow Blood controlling the karts, he also wouldn't allow them to leave.

The men in green jumpsuits were now grabbing Sam by the arms and lifting her. The movement restrictions were lifted and the men were able to move her from the car.

"Sam!" Lara roared. "Sam, fight back!"

Lara could see that Sam was trying, but before she could go to help, the men in blue jumpsuits were doing the same to her. Like Sam, she was lifted out and pinned to the floor. She heard Sam scream loudly as she took a blow to the head. Then the same happened to Lara. Then she was unconscious.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam**_

 ** _Author's Note: A pretty short chapter, but we're getting closer to the end now! I do, however, promise we're going to go out with a bang so please stay until the end. Please enjoy_**

 ** _Content Warning:_** ** _Please note this chapter contains mild blasphemy._**

When Lara woke up she was outside. It was day time and very bright, so it took her a few moments to get her bearings and realise what had happened. By the time she could open her eyes and look at the sky without squinting, she had remembered how she became unconscious. By the time she could sit up, she had noticed she was by the entrance to the old slaughterhouse, a few short metres away from her car. By the time she found The Bag sitting next to her, she had remembered why she came here. By the time she stood up, she remembered Sam.

"Jesus Christ," Lara muttered, grabbing the bag and rubbing her right temple.

Her head was banging and her wrist was sore, but she had reached the final straw. This was going to end now.

Getting in the car, Lara opened The Bag in the hopes of finding a clue; she was not disappointed.

 _Don't worry Lara, you're nearing the end. The final note. If only you hadn't chosen the cowards way out with Mariokart, perhaps then I wouldn't have been so stubborn. I did try to warn you. Don't you remember? The grenades? Anyway, what is done is done, so they say. It's time for the final showdown. We've taken Sam and this time we're going to let her die. We won't torture her or beat her; we shall only let nature take its course. Sam won't be provided with food or water, she will be left alone until you find her. My advice to you would be to take a moment to look back and consider what you've been through. The clues, the notes, the people. It won't be so simple though! If you want your girlfriend it is up to you to win her back. And I tell you now, if you go down to the woods today, you better not go alone._

Lara cried as she drove. She didn't stop crying until she reached her home. Pulling herself together as she exited the car, she made a quick dash into the house, ensuring the neighbours wouldn't see her in such a bloody mess. She hopped upstairs and looked at herself in the mirror.

 _God. I look like I was in the last 15 minutes of Carrie._

She took off her clothes, depositing them on the floor- they weren't her _top_ priority right now. After a quick shower to rinse the blood from her hair and skin, Lara dried off and put on fresh clothes before making for the living room. The clock told her it was only 8:48am. She checked the day too, making sure it was only a day later than when she was previously conscious- she wouldn't fall for that one again.

Instead of finding resources on the internet or various books, Lara sat back and thought. For once, she thought it wise to take Cow Blood's advice and backtrack on the happenings.

 _The first incident was outside Dale Meadows_ , thought Lara. _That was when it all started. Then there was the chase with the man with glasses. Perhaps that was significant?_

It was hard to piece it together. So much had happened that it seemed to merge into a big blur. She decided that the best thing to do would be go back to where it all started and go from there. So Lara grabbed her laptop and put it in its satchel before driving to Dale Meadows.

As she was only steps away from exiting her house, the front door less than a couple of metres away, the doorbell rang. Lara could see the silhouette of the person who had rang it. At first she was cautious- Cow Blood _did_ say the 'final showdown', it would make sense for someone to be coming to her. However, once Lara realised the silhouette was that of a woman, she let her guard down. Cow Blood wouldn't send a woman; he knew Lara would beat a fight in regards to strength.

Lara opened the door and was surprised at who stood at the doorstep. It was Kat from Hop Up, the obnoxiously desperate safety instructor.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Lara snapped, glaring at her angrily.

She opened the door wider, despite herself. She wasn't in the mood for a public display this morning. She wasn't in the mood for anything.

Kat stepped inside, her hands shoved in her pockets nervously. Lara closed the door behind her and stood opposite Kat.

Lara shrugged and raised her brows as if to say 'what?'.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Kat said. Her voice sounded different. Guilty.

"You should be," Lara growled. "It was gross."

Kat frowned. "Okay, yeah, I agree. No need to sound so hostile."

"Hostile?! There's no need to act like it wasn't your fault. You forced me to kiss you."

"What?" Kat exclaimed, clearly confused.

"At the skydiving place, you made me kiss you! Isn't that what you were apologising for?" Lara asked, equally confused.

"Oh! No, actually, I was talking about Harvey. I was saying I'm sorry about what's happened to him."

"Harvey?" Lara asked, alarmed. "Why, what _has_ happened to him?"

Kat looked anxious and stepped from one foot to the other.

"You haven't heard?"

Lara shook her head.

"He got beat up, apparently. Like, in the middle of the night. Quentin called me and told me he wouldn't be in work today because he was going to visit Harvey in the hospital."

"Holy shit," Lara whispered.

"I know. I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you. It's gonna be okay," Kat murmured.

She took a step closer to Lara and took hold of her hand.

"Seriously?" asked Lara, smiling from anger. "You're still going to try and get off with me after telling me one of my best friends is in hospital?"

"Lara, please. Don't be so dramatic. He's gonna be fine and I'm just comforting you."

Lara scoffed. "I might as well just give you what you want. You're not going to leave me alone without it, are you?"

"What do you-"

Kat was cut off by the crash of Lara's lips against her own. Lara used her own lips to force Kat's open, letting their tongues clash messily. After getting over the initial shock, Kat leaned in to the kiss further and let her hands ride up Lara's torso. But Lara wouldn't let her enjoy it. She grabbed Kat's wrists and slammed them against the wall behind the latter's head. She finished the kiss and stepped back.

"Fuck you," growled Lara before leaving.

Kat followed her soon after.

"Where are you going?" Kat asked.

"Don't you understand the meaning of 'fuck you'?" Lara asked back.

"You just snogged me!" objected Kat.

"It was a 'fuck off' kiss. I'm surprised nobody has given you one before," Lara replied, getting into her car which was parked on the driveway.

Kat frowned and shook her head.

"Move your car," Lara ordered, nodding her head at Kat's car, parked so it blocked the driveway.

Kat rolled her eyes but did so. Lara pulled out of the driveway and drove away. She didn't want to spend any time stewing over what she just did. It wasn't right, but she was angry. With everyone. She was even angry at Harvey for getting beat up. That's why she was still going to Dale Meadows rather than the hospital.

Kat hadn't been lying. Harvey was nowhere to be seen inside the cafe. Lara continued to her booth before sitting down and turning on her laptop. As she did so, a brief noise sounded to tell her she had a new Skype message. It was from SM.

 _Even this is a clue! -SM_

Lara frowned and sighed. "How the fuck is that a clue?"

She sat back and thought again. She thought back to Harvey and wondered in what circumstances he had been beaten up. As far as she knew, there was nobody with any kind of motive to hurt him. However, as Lara delved further into her memories about her recent visits to Dale Meadows, a certain man's face popped into her mind. One time when she had come into the cafe, there had been a man shouting at Harvey, seemingly telling him off for something. Despite her concern, Lara had only got as far as recognising the man but not being able to place him. But now, she knew exactly who he was, yet it didn't seem to make much sense: he was the blind man that she had come across when she had chased a man wearing sunglasses.

"Austin and Brandon," Lara muttered to herself, the names of the twins whose dad was blind.

Only he wasn't blind. When he was there with Harvey, he wasn't wearing dark glasses, nor did he bear a stick of any kind. That's why Lara had found it so hard to place him.

 _So the man I chased_ could _have been him. He just pretended to be blind once I'd caught up with him. And those boys... they must have been in on it too. That means that guy is something to do with Cow Blood. Are they after Harvey too? Or..._

Lara barely dared to consider it.

 _Or is Harvey in league with Cow Blood too?_

Lara hated herself for thinking it, but all possibilities had to be covered.

After taking a moment or two to comprehend this, she went back to her laptop. The only thing she could consider as a clue was the name: SM. But it meant nothing to Lara.

As she thought this, another message came through from SM.

 _Go to Harvey's office._

"Oh fucking hell," Lara whispered to herself.

So she did.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own the characters of Lara Croft or Sam Nishimura**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _ **This is the maybe penultimate chapter depending how things go... There will be an epilogue too, if so desired by a number of you, so let me know what you think of this chapter by reviewing or PMing! I hope the wait was worth it.**_

Lara rose from her seat and made her way to the door that led off from the café and into the corridor that led to Harvey's office. She opened the door slowly, nodding at the staff at the cash register to prove she was doing nothing suspicious. Going through to the corridor with caution, Lara made sure to absorb the scene with her eyes, checking every nook and cranny within a couple of seconds, ensuring there was nobody waiting for her. As she scanned the scene, something caught her eye; it was the stout, Greek style vase that she had discovered only days ago. Something looked different. Lara stepped over the threshold of the door and stepped towards it, squinting. Then she realised- it had been turned upside down. Lara couldn't see any reason for this, but decided it could perhaps be the result of someone moving the vase. Lifting it in her hand, Lara found a folded piece of paper. It read: _if you go down to the woods today you'd better not go alone._

"This vase," Lara whispered. "There's something about this vase."

Lara could stand there no longer. Just like last time, she felt a surge of familiarity at the sight of the design and knew she must consult the book she had seen such a design in.

Arriving at the library with the vase in hand, Lara walked in quietly and found the book on modern mythology in which she had previously seen the vase. Flicking through it, Lara kept her eye out for the picture and found it on page 111. The picture featured an identical vase and was surrounded by text. At the top of the page, the name of the chapter was printed in italics: _Myths in the media._ Under this, in much larger and bolder text was the title of this myth: Slenderman.

 _Slenderman,_ thought Lara. _He's the guy from those video games. I must be on the right track._

Lara read on:

Slenderman is a fictional character, best known for his appearance in the Slenderman computer game series. Originating from a photo editing competition, the franchise grew as more people became aware of his existence and started creating fictional stories and video games. The myth states that Slenderman can be found in forest areas as he waits for children to cross his path before brutally killing them with his numerous arms. The video game often requires the player to collect a number of pages that are pinned to trees before Slenderman finds them. His approach is made known by the crackle of white noise.

Lara's eyebrows raised victoriously; she had instantly made the connection with the passage and the notes, both of which included the mention of woods. That had to be where Cow Blood had taken Sam. Only moments later, Lara made another connection: the Skype name. SM must stand for Slenderman. It all made sense. She had to go to the woods and play the game if she wanted to get Sam.

 _It all seems too simple,_ Lara thought. _It's too easy._

Skipping over the next paragraph in the book, Lara's eyes were drawn to another picture. It was a tall, white figure with no face. He wore a black suit and had a wooded background surrounding him. Eying the vase again, Lara realised the design depicted him, a slender figure bending down to take hold of a child. Harvey had lied to her. It wasn't a mother looking after her child at all. Still, Lara had bigger things to worry about.

Much to the annoyance of the librarian, she left the book open on her desk and left the library. Lara knew her way to the nearest woods, so she got in her car and set off. As she neared the halfway mark, she realised her hands had started to shake and her pulse was speeding up. She wasn't scared of this game, of Slenderman. She wasn't even that scared of Cow Blood. She was just scared this wouldn't be the end. Despite the notes telling Lara that this would be the final task, she found it hard to believe. If she did manage to win the game and rescue Sam, would Cow Blood accept it? Would he be able to keep to his word or would he take back what he said and torment her even further. The thought of this made Lara realise how little she cared about her own wellbeing right now. If she died in a battle between him and herself, wouldn't she be better off? Surely this torture was worse than any kind of afterlife that may lie ahead. Yet thinking these things gave Lara a twinge of anger. Letting him win seemed worse than anything else right now. This had become some kind of competition. It wasn't about Lara anymore. It wasn't even about Sam. It was about showing this monster who was in charge here.

Lara pulled into the car park that had been built for the woods. In recent weeks when Lara and Sam had come here for picnics, there had always been the parked cars of hikers or dog walkers in this car park and sometimes even an ice cream van had pitched up here. Now, however, the scene was baron and as Lara left her car behind and entered the woods she found out why. There was a sign at the entrance to the woods that turned people away. It read 'We are sorry to announce that Foxhill Woods is undergoing reconstruction to improve the pathways and nature trails. Sorry for any inconvenience caused'.

"Likely story," Lara muttered as she clambered under the red and white striped tape that had been tied between two trees as an attempt to keep people out.

Lara had to admit it was eerie in here. The morning sunlight fell between the leaves in the trees in a way that would normally feel pleasant and welcoming. In fact, she knew first hand that on other occasions this had been a characteristic of significant beauty for the woods. Yet today, it only amplified the silence to a rattling buzz as it bounced around the trees. Despite often bearing a somewhat serene atmosphere disturbed only by nature itself, the lack of people transformed the tranquillity to a chasm of stillness and isolation. It made Lara want to leave.

Lara followed the semi-familiar path deeper into the woods where nobody, unless in the woods themselves, would be able to see or hear anything going on there. She figured Cow Blood would be keen to play this game out of the way of the public. As Lara arrived in the area where the trees grew in number and the bushes grew in thickness, she found an A4 piece of paper stapled to a tree with a wide trunk. As she approached it, she noticed the paper wasn't laminated and couldn't help but think of how impractical this was, given that the weather could turn and decide to rain.

 _Then again,_ Lara thought. _You're not in England anymore._

Lara stopped at the bottom of the trunk and raised up onto her tiptoes to read the note- it had been placed much too high for her eye line. At the top of the page, it read in bold letters: Lara. Read this page aloud.

Lara didn't think twice.

"Hello Lara. By now you have worked out the clues to the final game: Slenderman. I am sure you are familiar with the game, but here is an overview of the task that lies ahead. Sam is with me and my men. In order to reach her, you must search the woods for eight pages that look similar to this one. They are all pinned to trees in the thick of the woods. This must be achieved before Slenderman finds you. If he finds you, you will hear this-"

Lara was cut off as white noise was played through speakers high up in the trees. When the noise stopped she continued.

"At this point, you will have only moments to look around you and locate Slender's whereabouts before running away. As he gets closer, the noise will grow louder. As you escape, the noise will die down to silence. If you don't escape, you will be killed…"

Lara broke off, disheartened, but continued after a moment or two.

"On finding the eighth page, a man will be sent to escort you to Sam's location. This will not be done forcefully unless it needs to be. Should you want to give up on the task at any point, you may leave the woods whereupon Sam will be instantly killed. You won't come into contact with us again. I will now give you ten seconds in which you may ask questions should you have any."

Lara frowned and rolled back onto her heels. This was crazy. Absolutely crazy. She was scared. She knew Slenderman wouldn't be able to kill her like he does in the stories, but she didn't doubt that whoever was playing him wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Lara wanted to leave. But she knew that wasn't an option.

After ten seconds a claxon sounded. Suddenly, the sunlight that streamed through the trees disappeared and Lara was plunged into pitch black. The light must have been artificial.

The speakers crackled momentarily and Lara jumped, automatically assuming it was Slender. But a moment later, Cow Blood's voice came through.

"You may begin."


	22. Chapter 22

_**Disclaimer:**_ _ **I do not own the characters of Lady Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura, Lord Richard Croft, Conrad Roth or Slenderman.**_

 _ **Author's**_ _ **Note: It's worth mentioning now that this isn't the final chapter! I decided to split it in two so that the wait for a new chapter wouldn't be as long and so I have a chapter left to tie up the loose ends, followed by an epilogue. Please review or PM your thoughts on the chapter and enjoy. Thank you!**_

"Shit," Lara whispered to herself. "Oh shit."

She stood frozen to the spot, trying to encourage her eyes to adapt to the darkness by widening them. Already the temperature seemed to have dropped since the lights went out and Lara felt a chill run down her spine. She pulled her thin jacket round her and let her wrists shrink back into her sleeves. After a few seconds, her eyes were able to make out some shapes in front of her so she started forwards cautiously, taking small steps and rolling her feet from heel to toe. She held an arm out in front of her and made her way to a tree where she waited until her pupils dilated further.

 _Okay Lara. You can't hide forever._

She set off. Lara decided it would be wise to walk further into the woods before straying off the path. Despite this usually being the most dangerous option, Lara figured it would be the most practical: she hadn't seen any pages on the way in and Cow Blood wasn't likely to station them in plain sight.

Walking further into the trees and greenery, Lara found herself speeding up. She could see a strange object in the distance; it didn't look like the result of nature. Squinting, Lara worked out that it was some kind of wall so she continued, breaking into a run for the last few steps.

"Interesting," Lara murmured. "Some kind of shelter."

Lara stroked the pale beige structure. It was made of brick and appeared to be crumbling on the edges. The flat peak of the building stood only as tall as Lara's waist, perhaps a centimetre or two higher. It couldn't be more than 3 metres in length, Lara decided, and looked like a place someone would only come to in an emergency. A hiding place, perhaps. Lara had never seen it before and wondered if it had been put there for the purpose of the game. Then again, Lara had never been this far into the woods, nor had she strayed off the path before.

Walking round the perimeter, Lara found an entrance to the shelter on the width of the wall. She would have to crawl and even then she wasn't sure she would fit. It was a narrow entrance which led Lara to believe it may have been assembled by a child for recreational purposes: a secret den, perhaps?

 _Back when kids actually used to go outside instead of playing video games like Slenderman all day,_ Lara thought.

Lara kneeled down and positioned herself to go inside. As she did so, she found a torch by the wall. It had soil sprinkled over it, but it was obvious that the torch had been put there for her to find. She picked it up and brushed the soil off before switching it on. A feeble beam of yellow light leaked out of the end and Lara sighed, exasperated. Why did Cow Blood have to tease her?

Leaning forward, Lara pointed the beam of light, if you could call it that, across the den towards the opposite wall. Sure enough, a page was pinned there.

"One down, seven to go," Lara muttered, crawling in so only her legs were exposed before reaching across and ripping the page down. She crumpled it up and shoved it in her jacket pocket before dumping the torch in on top of it. She backed out through the way she came in and stood up, sighing.

"Okay… Where next?"

Lara looked around to work out where she had come from, but as she did so she caught a glimpse of white to her left hand side. It was him. A crackle-much different to the one she had heard when Cow Blood spoke- came over the speakers and Lara could see him apparently floating towards her. As she watched, he seemed to disappear before reappearing metres in front less than a second later. He was gaining on her quickly and the white noise played louder.

"Bollocks," Lara muttered.

She bolted to her right, pushing through shrubs, vaulting over logs and dodging around tree trunks. She managed to knock her bad wrist a couple of times but didn't stop to observe the damage; the white noise was still there and stopping would only make her a sitting duck. Instead she continued to run further into the forest, certain this was the way Cow Blood intended her to go. To Lara, it felt like she was being herded into something.

As her surroundings got darker and she had come into a place where the trees grew thicker and there was no longer a path, Lara was able to stop and get her breath back. The white noise had subsided and, after a brief scan of the surrounding area, Slenderman was no longer in sight. Lara leaned over with her hands on her thighs, gulping air like her life depended on it- then again, it practically did.

"Too… bloody… close, Lara," she said to herself, shaking her head. Why hadn't she run away at the first sight of him?

 _Just keep going,_ Lara told herself. _The sooner this is over, the better._

Walking onwards, Lara found herself in a busy area of the woods- the thick bushes and trees crowded her and she was forced to squeeze between tree trunks on several occasions. As she approached trees with wider trunks, she checked them eagerly with the hope of finding another page but was disappointed each time. A good half hour had passed before Lara found anything remotely interesting. As she grabbed onto the branches of an overhanging tree and pulled herself up and over a spiky thorn plant of some kind, Lara came into an opening. Though there were no longer trees here, the area was still pitch black and Lara had to squint to make out distant shapes. There wasn't much to see across the field, but one thing Lara could see was a pick-up truck parked at the other side where the trees started again. Strangely enough, Lara recognised the truck, the whole scene even. Perhaps she had seen it on one of Sam's video games?

Feeling inside her pocket to make sure the torch was still there- though it had proved to be a poor tool so far- Lara zipped up her jacket and started across the grass. Her instincts told her to run, but she knew she would have to save her breath in case there was another page here. That's when Slender would come.

Closer up, Lara could tell that the truck was red and the back wheels were sunk into the grass somehow. She approached it with caution, afraid of what or who may lie within. As Lara stepped closer, knees bent and eyes squinting, she could see what she was looking for- a page was pinned onto the steering wheel in the left hand side of the car. Having approached the truck from the right, Lara reached her hand out to the open window and prepared herself to grab the page and run. However, she was delayed in her actions as the headlights of the car suddenly lit up. Lara jumped back and gasped, fear and adrenalin making desperate attempts to convince her to run away. She almost submitted, but the engine didn't turn on and there was no white noise to be heard, so Lara took up her previous position and made a grab for the page. Victory.

Crumpling the page and shoving it on top of the torch in her pocket, Lara stepped back from the truck and looked around her, her ears moving as a result of listening hard.

Then it came. White noise.

"Shit," Lara winced, her eyes darting about from side to side, fruitlessly trying to spot the fiend.

After what must have been a couple of seconds, Lara caught sight of his balloon-like head, bobbing across the opening towards her. He was following the path Lara had walked, from the same direction, so he was a considerable distance away. But Lara wasn't falling for that again. She set off at a sprint, wanting to get a head-start. Flinging herself back into the trees, she ran through the green and brown and black, tripping here and there, before coming to a halt at a tree. Much to her surprise, she had stumbled upon another page, this one pinned to a tree trunk like the rules page had been. So she pocketed it and ran.

The day continued like this; it almost became routine to Lara. Walk through trees. Find a page. Run. Walk through trees. Find a page. Run. Sometimes she'd discover a page only moments after finding the previous one, like she had with the third one. Other times, there'd be minutes, even hours between one page and the next. By the time Lara was looking for the eighth and final page, she had been wandering round the woods and collecting pages for over seven hours. After another two hours of looking for the eighth page passed, Lara was exhausted. Absolutely fucking exhausted.

"Fuck it," Lara breathed, slumping down against a tree trunk and letting her legs fold beneath her. "Just fuck it. I've had enough. I'm done."

The speakers crackled. "Is this a forfeit I hear, Lady Croft?"

Lara took slow breaths, tears of anger and despise forming a hazy cloud over her eyes. She watched her own chest rise and fall, blood trickling down her stomach and across her limbs from the various trips and scrapes she had endured throughout the day. She shook her head at herself.

 _Look at the state you're in. How did it end up like this? How could you lose grip of everything so easily, Lara? How?_

The tears ran down her face in slow trickles, burning her skin like lava streams on a volcano. She stared into space, drawing her knees up to her chest and gripping them tightly, almost angrily as she told herself this was the end. It was difficult for Lara to accept but this _was_ the end. It had to be. She had fought all this time, dragging herself back from the lowest points to put one foot in front of the other with the knowledge that she was saving Sam, but Sam was no longer a good enough motive. Sam was no longer enough to keep Lara going. That's how Lara knew it was the end. This heartless, ruthless, pointless battle she had fought against this detestable man was so fucking stupid. So fucking stupid. She couldn't take it anymore. Admittedly, she had nothing to lose. But she also had nothing to gain. What was Sam if Lara was dead? Nothing. Neither of them mattered anymore. This was part of something bigger; something Lara didn't want to be involved with.

"Not a forfeit," Lara said at long last, her voice filled with despise. "This isn't a forfeit. This is me giving up. Not giving up to you, but to myself. I have nothing more you can take from me. You've taken my dignity, my life, my world and I have no fight left in me. I can't go on like this any longer." She paused. "Ever since I was a child, my father taught me how to deal with people like you. He taught me how to fight, how to survive, how to thrive. But he never taught me how to love and let go. The same goes for Roth. He was one of the best men anyone could ever hope to meet and he taught me so many valuable things. Yet loving was something I had to learn by myself. And now, with you, I have learnt to let go. You've taught me that life is just a game and that you can't always win. Life is a game and you have to be able to let go otherwise there would be no difference between one person's life and the next. I understand that this is a valuable skill, but don't think for one second I will thank you for it. Don't think I could possibly compare you to my father or Roth because it would be a disgrace to them and quite frankly to the rest of the human race. I just hope you had fun playing this twisted game of yours. I hope one of us got something out of it."

Lara was crying hard now, tears streaming down her cheeks and tumbling off her jawline, snot pouring from her nose and over her lips. She sobbed like she had never sobbed before, pushing the palms of her hands into her eyes and waiting for death to find her. After catching her breath back from her speech, she spoke again. This time, it was with hope and desperation.

"Sam. Sammy. If you can hear me I want you to know I'm sorry. I've fought ruthlessly for you, Sammy. But it's all too much, too soon. I wish there was something I could do for you, for us, but I know it's out of my reach. I'm tired, Sam, so tired. There's no energy left for me to love you with. I do love you. But I can't feel the love. I'm sorry. Don't be upset. We'll be united again soon. Who cares whether it's in life or death? What matters is that we'll be together. I love you-"

The white noise started.

"Lara! Lara, I love you too!" Sam's voice came over the white noise. She was screaming desperately. "Lara, please! Please don't do this to me, you have to fight, you have to go on! You're so close, Lara please!"

Lara continued to sob, clutching at her legs and rocking back and forth, letting her back bang against the tree trunk. The white noise grew louder, rapidly. Sam's raging screeches fought hard to be heard over it.

"Lara, what are you doing?! You have to get up, you have to run! Lara!"

 _Lara._

The last word Lara heard Sam say before the white noise erupted into a deafening explosion from the speakers.

He was here.


	23. Chapter 23

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lady Lara Croft, Samantha Nishimura or Slenderman. Quotes have been referenced. _**

**_Author's Note:_** ** _So this is it, everyone! The final chapter. As mentioned before, there will be an epilogue but this is the real end to the story. I've enjoyed every minute of writing this and I really hope you've all enjoyed reading it just as much. It has been hard sometimes and I've suffered from writer's block here and there, but the great feedback has made it so worth it. I've worked so hard on this chapter and I really hope it pays off so please let me know what you think and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any story requests that you'd like to see me write, I'mm open to anything I think I can make a good job of! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with the story to the end. It means a lot to me. For the final time, enjoy!_**

The last thing Lara Croft saw before she was plunged into nothingness was the towering, lanky figure of Slenderman grinning down at her. He didn't have a mouth but Lara had no doubt he was grinning as his face lowered itself to her level. She stared at his literally blank face for no less than two seconds before letting out a deafening scream as she felt an intense shooting pain radiate around her bones, originating from a sharp stabbing in her stomach. Lara saw a flash of red as her face flopped to her chest before everything was white.

This was strange. Lara could see, but there was nothing to see. She couldn't move. She wasn't a body, or any kind of being in fact. She didn't have to blink or breathe. It was kind of like being in a dream because Lara was looking around at the scene in its entirety, despite there being very little to see. Everything was white. Absolutely everything. There were no objects or props of any kind and Lara, although she had sort of lost the ability to think, couldn't tell whether she was in a room or outside somewhere- the whiteness had no boundaries. It was just white.

The scene looked very boring indeed. And yet Lara was in bliss. Despite not being able to think exactly, Lara could still feel- mentally at least. She could feel what was right and what was wrong, almost like an instinctive nature had taken over her mentality and was making decisions for her. And this nature- whatever it was- was telling Lara that everything was okay. Here she was safe; she was safe from everything and anything that could attack her or hurt her or make her feel bad on that grotesque planet she was on only moments ago. Lara knew that as long as she was here she didn't have to face anything else. This place was Lara's and, although she couldn't move or do or talk or feel or be, she could stay and she would never have to make decisions or work or think about other people. It was a kind of paradise that couldn't be felt on Earth, regardless of the situation. No delight compared to this- not in warmth or sex or drugs or even love. Nothing could replicate this feeling of ecstasy that filled every inch of Lara's non-existent being. It wasn't heaven or hell or anything in between. It was just nothingness. And Lara had never felt such happiness. And as she watched the white do nothing for an amount of time that wasn't recognisable, she realised this was the place she had always meant to be. This was where she was supposed to end up all along because this was where there was no worry or stress- only harmony. This was Lara.

Lara Croft was dead. She had to be. It was the only explanation for what was happening to her. This kind of pleasure wasn't possible on such a corrupted planet as Earth- she had to be in some other dimension that wasn't connected to her home planet. Lara didn't think of any of this- she didn't have the ability to. But this was fact. It had to be. Hadn't it?

"Lara."

Bliss.

"Lara!"

Paradise.

"Lara, please!"

Ecstasy.

"Lara! Lara, please. Lara!"

Lara could hear? But there was nothing to hear. There was nobody else around. This place was Lara's. Who was trying to take it away from her? How dare they?

"Lara. I need you."

Sam. It was Sam. And suddenly, all at once, a revelation flooded over Lara as she realised this blissful nothingness was the devil here. It was this place- whatever it was- that was trying to take her away from her life, not the other way round. It was with Sam that she belonged. Wherever Sam was, Lara must be. She had to get back.

Lara had started to regain her thought process, if only a tiny bit. But as time went by and Sam failed to speak again, Lara started to slip away. She needed Sam to say her name. Lara knew that was the only way she could convince her being to drag herself away from this paradise.

"Lara?"

Lara flinched in her catatonic state. It was enough. She knew she had to get out of here. It was enough to tell her to get back to Sam and finish what she'd started. As long as she could leave, it would be okay.

The task seemed impossible. No matter how much Lara told herself to pull away and detach herself from this extraordinary space, she couldn't do it. Even after acknowledging that her place was on Earth, Lara's mind fought against itself. It was like there were two Laras, both desperately trying to win happiness- only one was wrong. One Lara was convinced she had to stay here; it was so easy to stay in the whiteness. But the other Lara had to get back. She had to. And that's when Lara realised.

In our darkest moments, when life flashes before us, we find something. Something that keeps us going. Something that pushes us[1].

Sam.

It was like a slap in the face. Lara fought like she had never fought before. She struggled frantically, desperately fighting the pure brightness that engulfed her. She forced herself to think and to feel and to listen, silently crying out for someone to make a noise for her to hear. Nobody spoke. But Lara didn't give up. She used all of the strength she could muster and pulled herself towards Sam's voice, back to reality and physicality. That's when Lara realised it's the battles against ourselves that are the hardest.

But it was working. The white was starting to fade. It faded to a pale grey at first, before darkening until it reached a dark black. She could feel something hard beneath her back and she felt herself shiver- her body was back.

Lara's thought process had returned completely. She couldn't see, but she could think.

 _Talk, Lara. You have to make a noise,_ Lara told herself. And she had never been so relieved to hear her own head voice.

Lara tried to say Sam, but it came out like a groan: "A-am."

Speakers crackled.

"Sam," Lara tried again, managing to form the word properly this time.

"Oh my god," Lara heard Sam say over the speakers. "She's alive, you moron, she's alive!"

Lara's mouth upturned at the corners at the sound of Sam's voice. Her eyes started to open- the scene was a light blur at first and Lara worried she had slipped back into the strange unconsciousness, but after a couple of seconds, the branches above her head began to form. Then she could see again. It was light, but artificially. Lara remembered that the woods had been artificially dark when she had been awake previously. It confused her.

Her stomach was wet and once she was able to sit up, Lara looked down at it. Her jacket had a smear of blood next to a rip so she unzipped it to reveal a pool of blood across her waist.

"Oh shit," Lara whispered, looking down at the open gash in the side of her body. It had evidently bled heavily, but the flow seemed too have stopped. The wound was close to the one she had received on Yamatai and Lara doubted the knife- if that's what had caused it- had hit any important organs.

Still hazy from fighting back, Lara managed to take off her jacket and wrap it tightly around her waist. It was painful. In the extreme. But Lara couldn't give up again. As she had tied the jacket, the memories of what had happened had all come back to Lara and she knew she had to carry on. She had no choice. She had to get that page. Even if it killed her, which it may already have.

"You really are a Croft, aren't you, Lara?" Cow Blood sneered through the speakers.

Lara stumbled to her feet, steadying herself with a hand on the tree trunk.

"Yes," she said proudly. "I bloody well am."

The artificial lighting around her faded and Lara tried to get back in the zone. She had never felt more drained but motivated as she felt now. It was ridiculous and she knew she was in no state to carry on, but that didn't matter to her. What mattered was Sam. Only Sam.

Setting off at a steady pace before speeding up, Lara crashed through the greenery, her movements harsh and ungainly. The scenery was thick and unchanging and Lara thrashed about with no real plan or logic, pain searing through various parts of her body. She blocked out the pain and forced herself to continue, positive she would find something soon.

Her instincts didn't let her down. Although that familiar crinkling white noise and started to sound over the speakers, the next page was in sight. Hanging from a tree branch on what looked like a piece of string, Lara bolted for it, running as fast as she possibly could whilst in so much pain. The white noise building up rapidly, Lara dared to glance over her shoulder and noticed his figure only metres away.

"Not this time," she gasped.

She jumped and grabbed at the page, ripping it down and falling to her knees as she did so. The white noise stopped. Slenderman was gone. The lights flickered back on.

"Congratulations, Lady Croft. You have won. Though I never doubted your abilities, I have to say I started to get rather worried when your pulse stopped earlier. Still, I knew you'd pull through. Congratulations. It's over."

Lara had never been so relieved to hear Cow Blood's voice. She sobbed hysterically into the eighth page she had just collected and gasped for air as the sobs caused sharp pains along her side. Lara groaned and looked up as she heard footsteps. A man was approaching her with his hands up in submission. Lara hurried to her feet and backed away.

"I have come to take you to him and Sam," he said quietly. His accent wasn't American; Polish maybe?

Lara hesitated before following him. Somehow, Cow Blood seemed like a man who would stick to his word.

The man took Lara through the woods for a long time before they came out onto an opening. Lara wondered if it was the same opening she had stumbled upon some hours ago, but the car was missing and Lara was sure this was smaller. After walking straight across the middle, they went back into the trees where the woodland was thinner. Here seemed to be Cowl Blood's base. There was a lot of tech equipment around- computers and light and sound boards. A man sat at each instrument, but none of them looked at their technology. Each man's head turned towards Lara as she entered into the area. They looked pleased, hopeful, almost as if she had saved them from something. At one computer sat Harvey, and Lara was about to express her surprise when someone called her name.

"Lara!"

Lara turned her head to the centre of the circle of computers. Sam had just been released from a chair and was running towards Lara at a million miles per hour. Lara broke into a teary smile, scooping Sam up as she reached her.

"God I love you so much," Lara said, holding Sam tightly against her despite the excruciating pain she felt as Sam's knees squeezed her injured waist.

"I love you too," Sam whispered into Lara's ear before pushing her mouth into Lara's neck. Lara kissed her head and stroked her back before sitting down on the grass, cradling Sam like a baby.

"You probably have some questions."

Lara looked around for where the voice had come from and Sam lifted her head and flinched in fear.

"Hey it's okay," Lara hushed her. "I've got you now. You're safe. I promise."

The circle of computers had a gap behind the chair in which Sam had been sat. Through the gap walked a man wearing jeans and a polo shirt. Lara recognised him instantly. The man who had been arguing with Harvey. The 'blind' man she had spoken to in the garden so long ago. He had a strange expression on his face and was holding a voice changer.

"It _was_ you," Lara whimpered. "Don't come any closer!"

The man smiled psychopathically, but stopped in his tracks. "My name is Hunter. I'm not going to hurt you now, Lara. In fact, I've already called the police on myself. I just thought you might want to take this moment to ask some questions. Anything you didn't understand?"

"He's crazy," Sam whispered, shaking her head. Lara held her closer. She had to give him what he wanted.

"Okay. Here's a question. How did you always know where I was? You knew where I was going to be, one step ahead of me every time. How?" Lara asked frantically.

"Ah. Your friend, Harvey, is responsible for that. Come up here, Harvey," Hunter said softly, motioning for Harvey to join him.

Harvey looked hesitant, shaking his head silently. Lara could see that he was terrified.

"Come up here," Hunter said more forcefully. "I insist."

On hearing this firmer voice, Harvey jumped to his feet and joined Hunter, facing Sam and Lara with an ashamed, guilty expression.

"Explain to Lara what you did with her food," Hunter ordered.

"It was a drug. Something Hunter produced himself. I slipped it into your food and it allowed us- him- to have access to your mind. Not all of it, but it worked as a GPS, allowing us to follow you and work out where you were going to," Harvey explained, rambling slightly.

"That time I saw you two arguing… What was that about?" Lara asked, rocking Sam softly as she said it.

Hunter answered this time. "You weren't going to the café often enough. It was Harvey's job to make sure you ate enough so that the drug would never wear off. Unfortunately, for a short amount of time, Harvey failed to do so. I had to go in and let him know that wasn't acceptable."

Lara thought about this. It was like something out of a film. She couldn't believe she was actually sitting here, listening to this.

"What about that woman: Kat?" Lara asked, looking at Hunter with a frowned expression. "Was she part of your little scheme?"

"Nope," laughed Hunter. "Just a tag along you picked up along the way. And Quentin. Quite lucky, really, they helped you considerably. Have you told dearest Sam about your little snogging session with Kat?"

"What?!" Sam's head snapped up.

"Clearly not, since you've been holding her hostage the entire time," Lara retorted.

"Whoa, what snogging session?" Sam questioned.

"Good one. I didn't know you were a comedian as well, Croft," Hunter smirked.

"Lara. Snogging session?"

"Oh do go fuck yourself," Lara yelled at him.

"Hello? Lara? Girlfriend right here wanting to know about a snogging session."

"Sorry," Lara sighed, looking back down at Sam. "It's complicated."

"Oh it better be," Sam murmured.

Lara kissed her nose. "I honestly thought you'd have bigger problems weighing on your mind given the emotional trauma you've just been through."

Sam shrugged. "You sort of get used to it when Lara Croft's your girlfriend."

Just then, everybody (including the men who had been sitting quietly and patiently at the computer systems) turned their heads to the right as police sirens approached. Through the trees, Lara could see the bodies of armed policemen creeping towards them. A voice came over a megaphone.

"Everybody lay face down on the ground, now!" the voice yelled. "Now!"

Every single person followed the orders, including Lara and Sam, not letting their hands disconnect nevertheless.

"Lara Croft and Samantha Nishimura stand up with your hands above your head!" the megaphone ordered.

The women did so, reluctantly pulling away from one another to show their innocent hands. As they did, a group of around eight armed officers ran to their position and surrounded them in diamond formation, guns pointing out as a form of protection. They put their hands down and let the diamond escort them to an ambulance nearby. As they got there, the officers helped them into the van. There was a man sitting in the driver's seat, another by his side, as well as two paramedics in the back department which Lara and Sam had just been taken into. As soon as they were in, the doors shut and the engine started. Sam sat on the bed next to Lara, cuddling up to her for comfort.

"Hi there. My name's Tanya and this is Gary. We're just going to issue some standard first aid until you get to the hospital," the female explained.

Gary started looking Sam up and down, taking in all the different injuries and how to go about mending them. As he started to temporarily patch her up, Tanya started on Lara.

"Let's take that jacket away from your waist, darling. Looks like a nasty wound underneath."

Tanya reached around Lara's waist, receiving a scowl from Sam as she did so, and pulled the jacket away from her.

"Well there's certainly a lot of blood," Tanya remarked. "I'm just going to wrap a tight bandage around your torso over your top until we get to hospital. Then they'll give you some stitches, okay?"

Lara nodded and sat up straight to let Tanya wrap the bandage around her properly. After that, she wiped a few of Lara's smaller cuts and applied plasters to them before giving her a drink of water. Lara hadn't realised how thirsty she was until she downed a pint of water. Sam was equally thirsty, having been starved of her basic human needs for the last day.

On arriving at the hospital, the paramedics insisted on wheeling both Sam and Lara inside in the foldup wheelchairs they kept in the back of the van.

"Standard procedure," Gary explained as he pushed Sam's chair. "I think more than anything it just looks a little stupid rolling up in an ambulance and walking out of it."

 _He has a point,_ Lara thought.

As they were wheeled through the A&E entrance, Lara had to be taken to a separate ward in order to get stitches.

"Can't I go with her?" Sam asked Tanya, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"I'm afraid not, honey. You need to get that bullet wound sorted out, it looks infected," Tanya said, smiling sympathetically.

Lara felt a pang of guilt in her stomach, realising she must have stitched it up incorrectly. She turned in her chair and looked up at Gary.

"Don't let her out of your sight," she warned, before allowing the paramedics to wheel them in separate directions.

Tanya took Lara to a waiting room filled with people in similar positions- most people were in wheelchairs or laid on beds and had bandages wrapped around them tightly. Tanya left her there with another nurse, who wheeled her into a different room when her name was called.

It took a good half an hour to get the stitches done, especially as Lara had to have local anaesthetic. Still, the nurse managed to keep Lara entertained whilst the doctor worked. It was his first day on the job and Lara had to feel sorry for him with the amount of times he dropped something or got the patients mixed up.

As soon as Lara's wound was seen to, the doctor insisted on taking her to the plaster ward to get her wrist sorted out properly. Aching to be reunited with Sam, Lara begged the doctor to let the wrist heal on its own.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Lara argued. "It's actually been okay for the past day or so."

The doctor smiled. "I'm sorry but we have to give you a cast, we can't just leave it. Don't worry, it doesn't take long."

Now allowed to walk, Lara reluctantly followed the doctor to the plaster ward where she was greeted by a surly faced woman who didn't seem to talk. The doctor explained the break and the woman just nodded before applying the plaster to Lara's hand up to the halfway point of her forearm. The doctor had been right- it didn't take long. In fact, not twenty minutes later, Lara was being directed to the main reception, ready to be discharged, where Sam and three police officers waited for her.

"Lady Croft?" asked one of the police officers, his eyebrows raised.

"Call me Lara," Lara replied, shaking his hand before kissing Sam as she stood up.

"I'm Inspector Doan. We're just gonna have to take you to the station to ask you a couple of questions. We know you've had a rough ride but do you feel up to it?"

Lara was more exhausted than she could ever recall and, judging by the bags under Sam's eyes, her girlfriend was too. However, she decided it was better to get this over and done with now so she could sleep better when she got home. It was late at night now and she doubted the questioning would be over by sunrise, but she knew she wouldn't be able to rest without knowing Cow Blood- or Hunter as he was apparently known- had been locked up for good.

"Yes," sighed Lara. "I'm up to it. Let's go."

The police took Lara and Sam to the police station, informing Lara that one of the police officers at the scene had taken her car back to her house for her.

"Your address was on our system," Inspector Doan explained.

Once they arrived there, a couple of officers brought the two women a sandwich each as well as a drink. Lara was grateful- the food gave her a small energy boost and made her feel up to talking to the police.

It wasn't long before they were called in, both together at the same time. There seemed to be an endless series of questions as pictures of each suspect flashed up on a screen beside the inspector. Each time he asked 'Was this man involved?' or 'Do you recognise him?' or 'Do you think you might have seen this man recently?'

Eventually Harvey's face flashed up and Lara looked at Sam helplessly. She didn't want to turn him in because she knew he didn't want to participate in any of that- she remembered the look of terror in his face as Hunter had asked him to stand in front of them and explain his drug system. Harvey didn't deserve to be punished. But she couldn't lie to the police.

The inspector clocked the look on Lara's face. "You know him personally?"

Lara nodded. "He's a friend of ours. We've known him for a while now, he runs a special café just round the corner from where we live."

"He was involved though right? I mean, we saw him at the scene of the crime."

"He was," Sam answered. "But he was forced into it. I heard Hunter threatening him about it whilst I was tied up. They thought I was asleep but I wasn't. I heard the whole conversation: how Hunter had called upon him to do a great task and that Harvey had to forget about his relationship with us and do what was for the 'greater good'. It sounded kinda ridiculous, but we both knew he wasn't messing around."

The inspector nodded. "We'll listen to his side of the story. If he recalls the same conversation with Hunter, his sentence will be shorter."

Once all of the suspects had been identified, the police asked Sam to leave the room whilst Lara recalled all of the events that had occurred, starting with the man who shot Sam and finishing with the moment the police arrived at the woods. It was a lengthy conversation- though very one sided- and Lara had a rather weak voice by the end of it.

As Lara had predicted, Sam was next. They swapped places, Sam re-entering the questioning room and Lara finding herself in a temporary cell.

"Obviously we're not holding you," Officer Jane Moore explained as she took Lara there. "But the cells are the only places with a cushioned seat. We thought you could use a nap."

Lara, now thoroughly drained, just nodded and thanked the officer before laying on the bench and falling asleep. About an hour later, Sam was shaking her awake.

"We can go," Sam whispered, smiling. "Hunter has been arrested. There's gonna be court stuff, but the inspector says there's no doubt he'll be charged and imprisoned for life. It's over."

The police took Sam and Lara home, giving them a private number to call should they have any problems regarding any other people, missed out information or even psychological problems. Having dropped them both off at Lara's house, there was no question as to whether Sam would stay for what was left of the night- maybe a couple of hours or so.

After changing into pyjamas, both wearing Lara's, they flopped into bed, lost for words. Eventually Sam spoke.

"Can you believe that actually just happened to us?"

Lara sighed a laugh. "Yes, actually. We're not exactly known for avoiding adventures."

"True… I'm not used to them being so close to home, though. I can't say I was a huge fan of it," Sam smiled, staring into Lara's eyes.

"I'd have to agree with you on that one. I think maybe we'll learn to keep our heads down a bit more. At least archaeology didn't cause this one," Lara pointed out.

"No, this time it was just a psychopath," Sam retorted.

Lara smiled and took Sam's hands, bringing one up to her lips and kissing the knuckles delicately.

"I really love you," Lara whispered.

"I believe you," Sam murmured, shaking her head as she thought of all the trauma Lara had put herself through just for her. "I love you too, Lara."

Lara leaned in and kissed Sam's lips softly. It felt like a privilege. Like Sam's lips were the lust of the entire world yet they were reserved for Lara. They always had been, really. And as they kissed, Lara got the feeling- just as she had done as she fell into the white abyss, only with more love- that this was right. Love was right. The pain, the heartache, the broken bones, the mental exhaustion… None of it amounted to the strength of love that these two women felt for each other. None of it could outweigh the passion and excitement that they felt when their bodies touched or their eyes met. And although love had the power to hurt in a way nothing else did, it also had the power to give like nothing else. Love could give encouragement, reliability, hope and, most importantly, life. Love could give life. And resting beside Sam with her ear on her chest and her hands on her waist, Lara could think of no other way she would like to spend her life than with Sam. Sam was right.

* * *

[1] Tomb Raider 2013


	24. Epilogue

**_Disclaimer:_** ** _I do not own the characters of Lara Croft or Sam Nishimura_**

 ** _Author's_** ** _Note:_** ** _The epilogue! It's short and cheesy but I think it just gives you confidence that your OTP is still sailing well! I have to give a huge amount of credit to Satellizer-Malitia for suggesting the theme of this epilogue because without her/him/*pronoun* it would have probably had no theme at all. Let me know how you found the whole story. As always, it's been a pleasure. Thanks guys!_**

 _One year later._

"Will you wake the fuck up?" Sam grunted, shoving Lara's shoulder that poked out from under the duvet. She shoved a little too hard, causing Lara to slip over the edge of the bed and onto the carpeted floor. Sam laughed.

"Ow…" Lara muttered groggily as she sat up. "What was that for?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I've been trying to wake you up for a good five minutes now and nothing else seemed to be working. You gave me no choice."

Lara replicated the action. "Charming."

She pulled herself back onto the bed and sat cross-legged on top of the duvet, facing Sam. Sam was sat in the same position, smirking at Lara cheekily.

"Don't look at me like that. I think you're forgetting who I am," Lara teased.

"Oh don't give me the 'I'm Lara Croft and I can crush you with my little finger' bull. We all know full well that you'd fall apart if I just tickled your waist."

Lara scoffed. "Pft. I have a sensitive scar there."

"Sure. Excuses excuses," Sam muttered. "Hey what's that?"

Sam nodded her head to the wall behind Lara. As Lara turned her head to look, Sam grabbed at her waist and tickled her mercilessly. She didn't stop until the phone rang, even though Lara was practically begging to be released.

"Saved by the bell," Sam laughed as Lara shuffled to the other end of the bed to safety.

"Hello?" Sam said down the phone. "Oh hey… oh really? Yeah that would be great. No, it's completely fine… Okay I'll see you later then. Thanks, bye."

"Who was that?" Lara asked, trying to look angry still.

"Wedding dress store. The tailor has a free appointment this afternoon because her client got sick so they said I can come to get my dress fitted," Sam explained.

Lara's face lit up as she instantly forgot about the tickle fight. "Can I come?"

"Um, duh, of course you can't. You can't see my wedding dress before we're married. It's bad luck."

"Bad luck? That's very… traditional of you."

Sam smiled and grabbed Lara's hands, pulling them towards her. "Yeah well I want a traditional wedding."

Lara let herself be pulled onto Sam's lap. "Two women getting married, very traditional."

They both laughed before kissing.

"So can I come?" Lara asked when they pulled apart.

"No! I didn't come with you when you got yours fitted," Sam argued.

Lara groaned. "But I want to make sure you don't… I don't know… die or something."

"I'm not gonna die, I promise you. You know they've all been locked away."

Lara sighed. "Yeah I know. Okay."

"Breakfast. Come on," Sam murmured, kissing Lara's head and leading her downstairs.

The year that had passed had been rather uneventful, much to Lara's relief. Both Lara and her fiancée had seen therapists for a couple of months after the incident in the woods, but the therapist discharged them both after a short treatment process, deciding they were stable and managing extremely well, given their situation. According to the therapist, Lara and Sam looked after each other better than anyone could look after either of them and no coping strategy compared to their company for each other. Shortly after their treatment had finished, Lara proposed to Sam in a very unromantic- or romantic, depending on the way you look at it- manner. It was on an evening in autumn and as Sam played video games, Lara ate a poor American attempt at fish and chips and decided enough was enough.

"These chips are rubbish," Lara said. "Will you marry me?"

After deciding the wedding should take place in the summer, Lara and Sam seemed to do nothing but plan for it since then. Flowers, decorations, guests, accommodation- everything. It was a stressful process, but it definitely gave them both something to think about. More than anything, it showed their lives moving on.

Now, as they ate breakfast and Sam paced around waiting for her dress appointment, they were all too aware that the wedding was less than a fortnight away.

"Will you calm down," Lara sighed. "You're making me nervous."

"I'm just worried," Sam said. "I want this wedding to be perfect and if something goes wrong with the dress-"

"Get over yourself," Lara smiled, shaking her head. "It's going to be fine. Even if there is a problem with the dress, which there won't be, it doesn't matter, I promise. All that matters is that we're married okay?"

"Okay cheeseball," Sam sneered, straddling Lara on the sofa. "But like I said, I want it to be nice and traditional."

"And like _I_ said, you can't be that bothered about tradition or last night wouldn't have happened," Lara smirked.

Sam blushed. "Well… traditional for these days, anyway."

They sat closely until it was time for Sam to leave. Lara stopped her at the door.

"Hey," she murmured.

Sam turned.

"I love you," Lara assured her.

"I love you too," Sam smiled. "I really do."


End file.
